en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sun, 26 May 2013 01:11:42 GMT 15 By Kirby Wynne
After eight years of Charter athletics doing nothing but improving, some may be wondering why the athletic directors will be changing next year. The 2004 to 2005 school year is Mr. Poorman’s last year before he retires, and Mrs. Spilecki, who has been the athletic director since the 1996 to 1997 school year will be teaching full time next year. Poorman retired four years ago after being the athletic director for Wilmington High School since 1990, but became a part-time employee for Charter because he enjoyed it. He will be moving to his hometown in Pennsylvania where he will live in the mountains. “I’m going to fish, play golf, go to Florida in the winter, and visit my grandchildren,” he said. While Mrs. Spilecki is not retiring from the Charter School of Wilmington, she will be retiring from her position as athletic director. “I feel like I’ve done all I can, so I want to go back to the classroom,” Spilecki said referring to why she decided to teach full time. Spilecki will be teaching Health, Physical Education, Human Life Cycles, and possibly Drivers’ Education. “I’m going to stay involved in sports,” she said, “I might go back to refereeing field hockey and girls lacrosse. I miss it.” Mr. Kelly will be taking over the position of athletic director, and therefore assuming the responsibilities of making game and practice schedules, scheduling buses and officials, enforcing rules (concerning eligibility to play sports, etc.), handling parents’ complaints and concerns, even attending several meetings each month, in addition to many other responsibilities. According to Spilecki, these responsibilities are very time consuming. “[Athletic directors] don’t get to leave at three o’clock like most teachers, and we have to work on Saturdays,” she explained. “I hope to make changes as they are needed. We will always need to improve. I will encourage coaches and athletes to attend camps and clinics, and learn more about their respective sports—and perhaps have some clinics here at school,” Kelly explained. Both Spilecki and Poorman would like to see improvements in Charter’s facilities. Kelly would also like to see improvements upgrading our facilities. He would like them to be more safe and pleasing to the eye. “I’d like to see Charter move to another campus and have a new school where the students could have their own field,” Poorman stated. “And I’d like to see [the athletic program] continue to grow. The teams are getting better every year,” he added. Kelly would like our expectations for excellence continue. “We have excellent coaches and hard working teams, and success comes from consistent coaching, hard work, and expectations that are high,” he said. “I am excited and nervous [to be the new athletic director]. It will be a challenging position. Mr. Poorman and Mrs. Spilecki were two incredibly busy people as our athletic directors for the last seven or eight years,” Kelly stated. “I’ve been in this building for 25 years, and I’ve enjoyed it immensely,” Poorman concluded. “I’ve really enjoyed working with Mr. Poorman,” Spilecki stated, “His nickname is bulldog, but he’s a teddybear.” ]]> Fri, 27 May 2005 13:45:00 GMT