Rhonda Merriman, who has been a volunteer assistant Girls Soccer Coach at DCHS for several years, will now be paid a stipend for her services.
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby asked the school board Thursday night for a vote to reflect in the minutes that Merriman is to receive a stipend but that she continue to be classified as a volunteer assistant coach.
Merriman receives an hourly wage as a support staff employee at DCHS.
To ensure that Merriman would not be due overtime for her assistant coaching duties, Willoughby consulted with an official of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. Willoughby said his concern was based on an issue that arose several years ago when the county was forced to pay more money to certain employees who had accumulated a significant amount of overtime.
“After our last board meeting, I contacted the federal wage and hour labor office. About ten years ago there was a lot of overtime that was paid in DeKalb County and it really got sticky at that time so that’s what we were checking out. Ms. Rhonda Merriman has been doing this job as a volunteer assistant soccer coach for a long time. She does an excellent job and is an excellent employee. She is a super person. But according to Nathaniel Powell with the federal wage and hour labor office (who researched the issue), we need to specify in our board minutes that the money that she receives (from coaching) would be a stipend and her title would need to be (in the minutes) a volunteer assistant coach. We are not to ask her to do anything concerning the outside activities during the forty hours that she works,” he said.
According to Willoughby, the overtime concern was the only reason for the delay in naming Merriman as a paid assistant. “There was nothing against trying to keep Ms. Rhonda Merriman from doing this. It’s just that financially I did not want to get the county in a bind. There’s no telling how many hours the coach actually puts in and we could have had to pay her or anybody else overtime approximately $18 per hour but I think the problem has been worked out if we can have a motion to classify the money that she receives as a stipend and her title as a volunteer assistant coach,” said Willoughby
The board unanimously voted to follow Director Willoughby’s recommendation.
Last month, Brooke Roller, a member of the DCHS girls soccer team addressed the Board of Education asking that Merriman be kept as a paid assistant. Roller delivered a brief prepared statement in support of Merriman.
The school budget includes funding for additional coaching supplements including two DCHS assistant soccer coaches (one for the girls team and one for the boys team) totaling $5,570.