A concerned parent addressed the Picayune Municipal Separate School District Board of Trustees about the need for a certified athletic trainer at all sporting events.
Derek Turnage said his son plays for the junior varsity football team. During the Sept. 12 matchup with Gulfport, his son suffered an injury. Fortunately, Turnage said, Gulfport has a certified athletic trainer on staff, who provided his son with assistance on the field he feels was especially beneficial.
Even though he said football is becoming increasingly violent, Turnage asked the Board to seek someone for that position for all sporting events.
Turnage said the local hospital even offered to provide the school district with a certified athletic trainer in March of 2015, but the district took no action on the offer.
“I have safety at stake here, my kids,” Turnage said.
In a phone interview after the meeting, Assistant Superintendent Brent Harrell said the offer extended by the hospital a year ago only pertained to varsity football games, and would have cost the district $6,000.
Apparently, there were three items on Tuesday’s agenda pertaining to Turnage’s request, but they were moved to executive session without much explanation other than they dealt with personnel matters. Board member Edward Stubbs opposed moving the items to executive session, but was out voted.
Harrell said the district has been considering those matters for some time and concerned establishing a certified trainer position in the district, for all sporting events, not just varsity football games.
The other two matters moved to executive session pertained to temporarily hiring two registered nurses to provide medical assistance while the district attempts to hire an athletic trainer, Harrell said. All three matters were approved by the Board.
Harrell estimates the new athletic trainer position will cost the district between $30,000 to $40,000 annually.
See Thursday’s edition of the Item for additional coverage of Tuesday’s meeting.