3-25-2025 1:44am

Board Conceals Welton Report on Saline Athletics, Board Approves 3rd Party Review

Hornets jump in the pool earlier this month after winning the D1 swim and dive championship.

Administration from Saline Area Schools is concealing an athletic department report apparently so convincing that some members of the Board of Education were ready to cancel a $10,000 third party review commissioned last month.

The report was done by the highly respected Wayne Welton, the former Chelsea AD who Saline Area Schools hired to help the athletic department in the fall of 2023. Some parents demanded resignations and terminations after the football team was required to forfeit three games they'd already won for using an ineligible player. The football team was also prohibited from using LaDainian Woods, who had moved out of the district and lost his eligibility, for the remainder of the year.

Last fall, Superintendent Steve Laatch revealed that Welton had been hired to watch the happenings in the athletic department and act as a mentor.

At the March 11 Board of Education meeting, trustees reported that Welton had issued a report on what he saw to Laatsch and that Laatsch had shared the report with the district. At the previous meeting the board had selected Scott Robertson to conduct the independent third-party review of the Athletic Department. At the March 11 meeting, the board was considering a motion to allow Board President Michael McVey to finalize a contract with Robertson, who has extensive athletic department experience review on the west side of the state.

Upon reviewing the Welton report, Trustee Brad Gerbe questioned the need to spend $10,000 on another report.

"Since we went into this back in October, I'm not sure the goalposts are exactly in the same place they were before," Gerbe said. "And I appreciated the feedback we received and thought it was a thorough report from Mr. Welton. about the conversations he's engaged in. So, you've heard me talk about looking at every dollar we spend. And we have the Welton report, which I thought was very affirming of our athletic department."

Gerbe also referenced rankings from publications like Niche.com which always Saline as one of the best school districts for athletics in Michigan.

"Every dollar matters," Gerbe said.

He asked Laatsch to speak about Welton his report.

Laatsch said in October that he contacted Welton to work with the athletic department to address concerns that had been raised. Laatsch admitted that he was new the superintendent role when Ashley Mantha was named Athletic Director and Jeff Pike was named Assistant Athletic Director. Laatsch said since he was new to job, he didn't realize they could have used mentoring when they were new.

So the district contracted with Welton in October to be a contractor until the end of Decenber. He liked the work being done and Welton agreed to stay on through spring.

"Recently, he provided me with more a less a progress report. And the other thing is, I thought it was a good progress report," Laatsch said. "It's certainly pointed out areas of strength and it has promoted areas that the department needs to grow in. They've definitely been making progress."

Board VP Jennifer Steben saw the Welton reports more as HR reviews. She said what the board previously approved was an independent review of athletic department processes.

Trustee Tim Austin agreed the Welton hiring and subsequent report was not the same as what the board and community wanted.

"Steve felt the need for a mentor and that's fine. I understand Brad and the concern about $10,000. But I ran the number and it's .0164 percent of the budget. So I think we have to cognizant of of taxpayer dollars, but many taxpayers we heard from said they wanted a third-party review," Austin said.

In late 2024, Austin, Steben, Lauren Gold and former Trustee Susan Estep voted for the third-party review. Trustees Gerbe, McVey and former Trustee Jenny Miller voted against the review. Laatsch also urged a no vote on the review and resigned shortly after the yes vote.

Jason Tizedes and Darcy Berwick were not on the board yet. Berwick said she didn't feel proper policies and procedures were not followed during that process.

It's not at all clear that what the board expects from a third-party review has much relation to what the football team and parents wanted.

McVey, for example, is now in favor of the third-party review.

"This is not a direction response to what happened with the football team," McVey said. "But the football issue did put some things on the radar."

McVey said he learned about more issues than the football team issue. He said there was a lot of smoke and that it was worth seeing if there was a lot of fire.

"What it comes down to is this. We have a lot of athletic programs. They call this Saline University. That's complicated. There are a lot of coaches coming, assistant coaches. There are a lot of issues running a show like that," McVey said.

The board sided with McVey and approved, by a 7-0 vote, a motion to grant him the ability to negotiate the contract with Robertson.

Robertson is being asked to report on:

Coaching standards
Climate and culture
Title 9 compliance
Leadership development and mentorship
Processes for recruiting and hiring athletic department staff
Processes for hiring, evaluating and terminating coaching staff
Verification of student-athlete residency eligibility

The board could see the Robertson report by May 17.

The Saline Post was denied access to the Welton report.

"While Welton's report is not intended to be distributed for public consumption, we are happy to share this summary. The board is moving forward with a formal third-party review, which will be shared in a future open forum," district spokesperson Jackelyn Martin said.

The Saline Post has made a freedom of information request for the report.