Question over coaching permit

Lander coach tells school board he should be paid

LANDER — "The district still has multiple coaches who have gone unpaid for the work they have done this past school year," Jonathan Weaver told the Lander School Board during public comment at its June 16 meeting. "I'm taking this very seriously."

This was the second time Weaver had come before the board to speak on this matter. 

On May 12, he explained that he had been in touch with district staff about not receiving the full amount of his agreed-upon pay for working as assistant Nordic ski coach for the middle school team.

Weaver commented that as of May, he had gotten only about half of the pay for the work he'd completed for the district. He attributed having received even that amount to an administrative error. And, he added, he's aware of at least three and maybe as many as six coaches in similar situations, some of whom had received no pay at all.

The Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board website spells out the requirements for working as a coach for a school district: Coaches are required to have a high school diploma or GED, current CPR certification, complete courses including prevention and care of athletic injuries and theory of coaching a specific sport (or two years' experience coaching high school or middle school), and pass a test on the U.S. and Wyoming state constitutions.

For coaches who don't meet all of these requirements, the PTSB website explains that they can work under a transitional coaching permit for up to three years while working toward meeting all of the requirements for a standard coaching permit. The transitional permit has its own requirements, including the prevention and care of athletic injuries training, which were last updated in 2022. The text on the website appears to address prospective coaches directly.

Weaver explained that when he started working for the district as a coach, he was told the permit was unnecessary; mid-season, he said, he was told that he did need one after all, but had time to complete the necessary requirements. 

A month to the day after the Lander Middle School Nordic Ski boys and girls teams both won their state championships, he continued, he was informed that he would not be receiving the remainder of his coaching stipend due to his not having a coaching permit.

School districts can face penalties for employing coaches who don't hold the appropriate permits. 

But, Weaver told the school board, "in my opinion [withholding agreed-on pay] is a fundamental violation of labor law."

While the question of who was responsible for conveying which information and what the source of the confusion reported by Weaver was may still be up in the air, school board member Mara Gans argued that the district should pay people who have completed work for it regardless.

"I think it's a really bad look on the district's part to not pay people who have completed work for us," she said, and that the district should shoulder the responsibility for any errors. Perhaps, she added, the district could reach out to the state about working with them to resolve the issue.

Gans also noted that this does not appear to be an issue statewide and wondered if the state had changed its enforcement or if something else had changed. 

According to the Wyoming School Boards Association, it does not appear as though any other Wyoming school districts have reported issues around changes in coaching permit enforcement in recent years, and the PTSB website does not indicate any recent changes.

Later in the meeting, school board member Aileen Brew remarked that she agreed with Gans on the issue. Brew also asked that the board revisit the topic at some point in the future, as there was more information she had just been made aware of.

Aside from Weaver's public comment, the school board did not discuss the issue of coaches' pay at its June meeting.

This story was published on June 24, 2026. 

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