More than 1,600 ConVal parents, students, alumni and community members had signed a change.org petition by Monday afternoon, protesting the non-renewal of ConVal Athletic Director Kevin Proctor’s contract at the end of the school year.

Proctor, who has been the ConVal’s girls’ basketball coach since 2017 and is a ConVal alum, was appointed athletic director in 2022, succeeding John Reitnauer.

Renee Davis, speaking on behalf of the petition organizers, known as the “CV Support Team,” said the document was created organically on behalf of a large group of parents and supporters.

“The petition was started equally by a whole bunch of people,” Davis said. “It came out of a lot of conversations over the weekend with everyone having the same idea.”

The petition states:

“Recently, we have learned that the CV school district did not renew Kevin Proctor’s contract as Athletic Director. This has come as a shock to anyone who has worked alongside him or watched him work. There has been no reason given for this cause of action. Kevin has been highly motivated and dedicated to all the students’ best interests not only for sports, but also through numerous clubs.

“In the past two years, Kevin has made great strides of growth within the CV community. The school’s athletics have endured challenging times, and he inherited a difficult and challenging situation to get back on track. Many students fondly refer to Kevin as “K-Proct,” showing his approachability to the students. In many people’s opinion – parents, students, and coaches alike, Kevin is the best thing that could have happened to CVHS sports.”

ConVal boys lacrosse head coach Bob Taylor said Proctor had sent an email to all the ConVal coaches on March 29 with the news that his contract would not be renewed at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.

“We are all in complete shock,” Taylor said Monday afternoon. “Kevin is the most fantastic AD anyone could ever ask for, and the community needs to hear why. We need to hear the reason. We’re all totally in the dark about why this is happening. It’s hard to understand how anyone could be so out of touch with how important Kevin is to this community. We need to know where this is coming from, because it’s the wrong call.”

Taylor said a lot of concerned parents and community members were planning to attend Tuesday night’s regular School Board meeting. 

In an open letter posted online, ConVal alum Bradley Davis, who volunteers with the football program, stated, “It is still unnerving that on Friday, March 29th I was informed that Kevin’s contract for employment would not be reissued for the upcoming year starting in the fall of 2024, with no reason on information provided to him or the coaching staffs of all teams. As a coach, a parent, a tax payer, and as a member of a community that I was under the impression cared about its youth and their development, this is rather alarming and disheartening news for obvious reasons. Kevin is the sort of person that you want your kids to be around, that you feel lucky to have on your side, and that you damn sure go to bat for when something like this happens unjustly and unfairly.”

As the Ledger-Transcript went to press on Monday, Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo-Saunders sent the following statement:

“Our practice is not to issue comments about personnel matters, including non-renewals, unless there are extenuating circumstances which make it appropriate. There are no such extenuating circumstances here and therefore, there is no public sta   tement at this time.”

The ConVal School District plans to release a longer statement on Tuesday.

The ConVal School Board meets at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 2, at the SAU conference room behind SMS Middle School. The ConVal School Board meeting schedule is available at https://schoolboard.conval.edu/en-US.