COMMENTARY
DOE bureaucracy strikes again
By Drake Beil
David Aulik, his wife and his dedicated 'ohana of volunteer parents set up tables and chairs at strategic locations to funnel hundreds of families and friends into a holding area so they can get football tickets and enter the new stadium at Kealakehe High School on the Big Island. They must create a makeshift area for every event, because the stadium was designed and approved by the Department of Education with no ticket booth.
"We're pleased to have the $8 million facility, but there are some ironies. They also approved it without seats or chairs — people just sit on concrete — but the planning process happened before I came in to serve as assistant, then temporary, then interim athletic director," Aulik said.
Two of his children attend Kealakehe; one graduated there and is headed for the Air Force.
Aulik, who has an M.B.A. and a Ph.D., retired as a successful businessman to move to Kona with his wife, Susan, a few years ago. Aulik did merger and acquisition due diligence as a corporate consultant. His technical background is in food chemistry. He worked with Pizza Hut and Jack in the Box on new product developments and marketing.
He always had a love of sports and, at 6 feet 3, he was an all-star football and basketball player and received a full-ride football scholarship to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He played pro football in the Central States Football League and pro basketball in the minor leagues with the team that later became the Carolina Cougars.
Before he came on board, it was a time of instability and uncertainty at Kealakehe High, which went through four athletic directors in two years. "They were dealing with resource constraints, disgruntled coaches doing their own things, and when I heard the school needed some help, I volunteered," he said. He became an assistant football coach and also Booster Club president. He was assistant athletic director until June 30, 2002.
When the fourth athletic director resigned to go back to the classroom, Aulik stepped in at the principal's request to serve on a temporary contract, from Dec. 12, 2002, to June 30, 2003.
He is still in that position temporarily, and that's the problem. According to a Nov. 26 letter from a personnel specialist at the Department of Education, Aulik does "not meet the minimum specialized experience requirements for the position" of athletic director. He was thus terminated — and tomorrow is his last day.
"He jumped in to help us with great administrative skills, has years with the program and time in the position of athletic director," said principal Wilfred Murakami. "He has been doing a fantastic job for a few years now and knows the job better than anyone else. He knows the coaches, the parents, the kids; and the business community has rallied to support us.
"When he first came in, we had about 10 teams and 80 students participating in our school of 1,500. He has helped grow our athletic department to its current status of 19 sports, 44 teams and over 550 athletes, all with the same resources from the state.
"We expect over 700 kids to participate this year, with still the same resources, and this is one of the highest percentages of participation in the state."
Dan Varney, coach of the varsity cross country and track teams, said: "I guarantee you every coach is really disappointed about his being forced out.
"Dave Aulik has a lot of passion for the kids and for the school. He's a legit AD who has brought the program in the right direction. I'm surprised that here you have someone doing such a good job and the powers above decide there's not even an option to discuss it. What impresses me most about Aulik is that when you need something as a coach, he makes you feel like it's on the top of his list and he follows through every time."
Aulik said: "More than 50 percent of our money for sports at Kealakehe comes from our fund-raising efforts. The DOE allocates no money for things like uniforms or bus transportation for pre- or post-season activities. We have parent groups and teams set up to help develop community partners, mostly small businesses. Not the Home Depot or Costco size company, but more the mom-and-pop stores and local professionals in the area. We list them in our programs and make our market of parents and kids available to them in that way ...
"Normally, if a team makes states, there's no money available from the DOE to play at that next level. Coaches all over the state are always scrambling to raise money, make reservations, coordinate with team members and families with little to no support. We're trying to do that a little different here and the community's really behind us."
According to Murakami and others, Aulik attended to the athletic department six days a week — Sundays as well, if needed. Over the summer he attended to scheduling, equipment and coaching needs so that upon the opening of the school year, all systems were ready to go. He was responsible for generating a consolidated calendar of all sporting events for the individual seasons; then arranging busing schedules for all off-campus sporting events. He worked very closely with busing companies and last year significantly reduced costs for the buses as well as wait times. He was responsible for all fund-raising events for the athletic department, payroll for coaches, special events in the school's athletic facilities, and uniform and equipment inventories. He attended a wide variety of team meetings, and saw to it that BIIF regulations were enforced.
He was also responsible to verify academic eligibility of all athletes. This required verification of more than 4,200 classes taken as well as potential interaction with more than 1,000 parents and legal guardians. He worked closely with the students, teachers and parents to help guide the athletes to a solid academic posture, retaining their active sports status should someone become academically ineligible. He coordinated the work schedules of about 44 coaches with the required practice schedules of the 44 teams that were coached. He coordinated with the necessary trainers, referees, concessionaires, security and custodial workers, ticket sellers and takers, support entertainment groups, news media and visiting athletic directors for each event. He also found time to rewrite the Athletic Department Handbook.
All this he did with no assistant or clerical support.
On Nov. 26, 2003, he was given a notice of termination because the Department of Education determined that he was not qualified for the job of Kealakehe athletic director. They told him he was "ineligible to apply because you do not meet the minimum specialized experience requirements."
"I wrote a letter to the Department of Personnel requesting he be allowed to interview for the position." Murakami said. "They rejected it. I appealed directly to the state superintendent specifically citing reasons I felt were compelling, and my appeal was also rejected." (Superintendent Pat Hamamoto didn't respond to several calls for comment on this story.)
Murakami won't be able to retain Aulik regardless of the job he has been doing and regardless of the community support. The "minimum" requirements include the options of being a head coach for five years, an assistant AD for five years, or an AD somewhere else for two years. Aulik's performance didn't matter to the DOE central bureaucracy; neither did the school principal's recommendations and appeal, and neither did overwhelming community support.
As of Thursday, Aulik had not been officially notified who will be appointed to the position. All he knows is that he is terminated and his last day is tomorrow.
"I was told my last day is the 12th and a new person will start as AD on January 13th and the system expectation is someone will come in and take over the entire operation with no transition time necessary," said Aulik.
Drake Beil is a business consultant and organizational development specialist. He can be reached at drake@drakebeil.com or at (808) 587-5832.
