School District of Janesville paying spring sports coaches 50% after initially planning to not pay them at all

The School District of Janesville has decided to go back on their decision not to pay spring sports coaches after their seasons were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday night, the Board of Education voted to pay coaches 50% of their spring salary after initially deciding not to pay them at all.

At first, school board member Kevin Murray made a motion to reinstate their pay to 100%. After some discussion, board member Michelle Haworth suggested paying coaches at 50%.

“I can’t look at someone -- after seeing all the red we are going to see here -- and give them 100% when they aren’t doing 100% of the job. A lot of time is put in during the off season, but most of the time is put in during the season with the long nights and weekends and the travel,” said Haworth.

Murray then changed his proposal to 50%. In an 8-1 vote, board members approved the resolution.

According to public information officer Patrick Gasper, full pay for the coaches in spring sports would be around $170,000 so 50% will come to about $85,000.

As NBC15 News reported last week, Janesville was one of the few districts in our area that initially decided not to pay their spring coaches anything.

NBC15 News reached out to 10 area school districts. Nine of them were paying most, if not 100%, of the coaches’ spring stipends. Janesville was the lone district not paying coaches anything.