The Hinckley Finlayson School District fired has their Athletic Director Cheryl Bjerke.
Bjerke was relieved of her athletic director duties in March of 2021 and officially terminated on June 14 during the regular school board meeting.
Superintendent Rob Prater says Bjerke failed to appeal a classification of Hinckley-Finlayson sports by the Minnesota State Highschool League. The district went from A to AA. This is despite Bjerke reportedly telling coaches and school board members the district was still class A. Hinckley Finlayson is unable to appeal the decision since the deadline to do so was in March.
Other issues which led to the termination also included scheduling and communication issues with coaches. She is also accused of not following COVID-19 protocols for indoor sporting events.
Mandy Hartl has been handling the position in the interim.
Prater says that the district still needs to decide what to do going forward.
Mandy was under pressure and the school was given an extension to appeal, just like any other school in Minnesota this 20/21 school year. So the article in that area is not true and because there was an appeal, well that makes it a very big area. In such an important piece fact not fiction is needed. Also when you get a chance to see the appeal that was well thought out by the guidance of a few statements from certain coaches and backed by the Superintendent as well, you can see for yourself that yes, there was obviously an appeal made by the school and no, it did not solely support A classification in sports. In fact there was…
Sounds like a vendetta!