SIDNEY — The reinstatement of seven coaching positions for Sidney City Schools was approved by the Board of Education Monday evening.

Athletic Director Mitch Hoying told the board the positions are currently in the negotiated contract but hadn’t been filled in many years because of financial concerns. The seven positions include freshman or varsity assistant for baseball, softball, volleyball, girls soccer and boys soccer and varsity assistant for boys basketball and girls basketball.

“There would be $12,600 in additional costs if all the coaches start at step 0.” said Hoying. “It would be $24,850 if it maxes out at step 5.”

Hoying said the participation in athletics by Sidney students has grown in recent years. Also, the responsibilities of the coaches has increased as changes are made by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. It is also harder for the district to find volunteer coaches, who are not paid for their time with the teams.

He said a volunteer coach has to take a CPR class, a concussion class, a class on how to be a coach. This amounts to around 20 hours of time and $150 which is paid by the volunteer.

“Most will volunteer as a coach for one year,” said Hoying. “Then they discover that the CPR class has to be renewed every two years.”

The nature of what coaches do has changed through the years.

“We had a two page physical that had to be filled out when I first started coaching,” said Hoying. “There’s a seven page physical now.”

Head coaches, said Hoying, are staying ahead of the competition by offering summer youth programs. The coach will create an outline of what groups such as rec programs should follow, which will help the program as the students enter middle school and high school.

The coach also helps fund the program through the respective athletic group.

“Seventy-five percent of their time is being spent looking at the big picture practices for the program,” said Hoying.

The addition of a freshman coach or assistant varsity coach, said Hoying will allow the head coach to spend more time with the varsity team athletes.

“Each coach’s role will be defined by the head coach of the sport,” said Hoying.

Hoying said by adding paid coaches to the staff, the district should be able to attract more young teachers to the district who also want to coach.

“We’ll be able to do internal replacements when needed,” said Hoying. “We’ll be able to keep the good coaches we have and that will better meet the needs of our kids.”

Hoying said he had contacted other schools in the league and others the same size of Sidney.

“If we add the positions, we will be the same (coaching numbers) as other teams our size,” said Hoying.

Board member Paul Heins asked about the position for pep band director. He said he has been asked by members of the community why there’s not a pep band at home basketball games.

Heins was told that this was one of the positions eliminated during the financial struggles of the district. The position is in the negotiated contract with the teachers and could be brought back if the right person was found to be the director.

Also on a musical note, the board approved the out-of-state trip to DisneyWorld and Orlando, Florida, for the Sidney High School marching band on April 13-17, 2016. The trip costs will be paid by the students.

Band director Chris Adams said the band had to audition for Disney and be asked to perform at Disney World. Audition tapes were sent in last school year and the band received approval from Disney to perform.

“This is one of the safest places in the world for our students to perform,” said Adams.

The students will be attending clinics at Disney during their trip. They will work in a movie clinic and go into the recording studios with professional musicians and writers.

“Our goal is to perform in the Magic Kingdom during the evening before the light show,” said Adams.

Adams also told the board that the band has been selected to perform in the Buckeye invitational at The Shoe in Columbus on Oct. 3. Only 38 high school bands are invited to perform at the invitational. The Sidney Band will be performing at 11:45 a.m.

The board heard a report on the capital outlay for the district in its five-year forecast presented by Treasurer Mike Watkins. He reviewed the technology and building grounds needs. The general fund, he said, funds the capital outlay purchases for the district. Funds are also transferred from the general fund to the permanent improvement needs as the district doesn’t have a permanent improvement levy on the books.

Each board member used a Chrome book to follow the presentation. Chrome books, said Watkins, are one of the big expenditures and a district-wide priority for the district as technology changes. There are 750 to 800 Chrome books in the district, which includes 3,600 students.

Building and grounds work includes the locker project at Sidney High school, asphalt repair, door repairs and the purchase of folding chairs for one of the elementary schools.

The lack of a permanent improvement levy continues to take money from the general fund, he said

“This is not the direction we want to continue to go,” said Watkins.

Watkins said he will continue to report on portions of the five-year forecast during upcoming meetings. The entire report will be approved at a later meeting.