Shelton High head football coach out of job after tackling drill injures several students

SHELTON, Wash. — The Shelton School District accepted the resignation of high school head football coach Mark Smith during Tuesday’s regularly scheduled school board meeting.

Coach Smith is one of the people at the center of controversary after he supervised a tackling drill during PE back in January and none of the students were wearing pads. Several students sustained some pretty significant injuries, including concussions and dislocated fingers.

“Now that we have voted and accepted the resignation of Coach Smith, can we move forward with finding another coach?” School Board Chairman Matthew Welander said at the end of Tuesday’s meeting.

Several parents whose kids were injured during those drills like Desiree Leth was in attendance to see if the board would accept Coach Smith’s resignation. She says while she is happy to see Coach Smith out of the job, she believes the district should’ve taken action.

“So, I wish he had been fired,” Leth said.

Leth also worries Coach Smith could do this at another school district.

“I’m concerned that he is going to move to a different state and do the same thing again,” Leth said.

She says she and several other parents plan to file litigation against the school district because of this.

“That was our number one goal. Uhm, this is for the safety of children, Leth said.

But Leth and other parents aren’t just frustrated with how the school district handled the situation, they also believe the other assistant involved in those drills should also face consequences.

“And I want to make sure he also is not able to come back to this district or any other district to work with other kids,” Leth said.

KIRO7 reached out to Coach Smith for comment but have not yet heard back. KIRO 7 also approached several school board members for comment after the meeting when it comes to the videos and the volunteer coach involved. Each board member told us they couldn’t comment since this is still an ongoing investigation.

©2024 Cox Media Group