Dear Editor,

The firing of Coach Jones is offensively negligent of and to the community and NMSHS students. For over a decade Mr. Jones has been a positive role model and leader for high school students.

Sure, sometimes the wins weren't there, but you'd be hard pressed to find a football player that wasn't proud to be a Panther, and that was due, almost solely, to Jones' passion and love for the game and his team, which rubbed off on every athlete he led. He encouraged even those who had no business playing football to get out there and give it a shot and step out of the comfort zone, and exemplified caring for and doing something bigger than one's self.

To not understand how important he is to not only the team, but the community and school environment as a whole shows how little the administration of the school, the principal, athletic director, and anyone else involved in the decision, understands the people they are in charge of, and gives pause to their ability to provide the stimulating and encouraging high school experience that high school students deserve, and also makes one wonder about their understanding of the community as a whole.

The arrogance to undo a career as long as Jones' after serving only two years (as the current athletic director has, in addition to a rookie year principal) is crude and appalling. To decide you are capable of understanding the way things work up here, to undo the common threads and sense of community that was built long before your arrival, after TWO YEARS is incredibly egotistical and misguided. I either question the administration's intentions and if they have the students' best interests at heart or their competency to lead at all, and neither option is good.

If they truly care about their students, they will reinstate Coach Jones immediately and reevaluate their positions of leadership themselves, as they have proven to be failures thus far.

Richard Allen,

NMSHS Class of 2015