As a result of athletic director David Rosengard‘s resignation, dean Mark Rigby has been promoted to assistant principal of operations, a job currently held by Kendall Griffin.
Rosengard’s resignation, which was approved at the school boarding meeting Monday, Nov. 18, will take effect Monday, Dec. 2 when current assistant principal Griffin becomes the new athletic director, according to principal Jason Ness.
Associate dean Alana Tinsley will be sharing Rigby’s dean responsibilities until a new dean is hired for the 2014-2015 school year, according to Ness.
“Our primary focus was to ensure a smooth transition for the next athletic director and utilize Mr. Rosengard’s knowledge to continue to build, promote and grow an already successful athletic department. Fortunately for us, we had two outstanding in-house candidates [Griffin and Rigby] that will continue to develop our programming efforts here at West and foster strong working relationships with our students, staff, and community,” Ness said.
Most seniors said they are happy for Rigby but have concerns about working with a different dean after four years.
“A sudden change this late in the school year isn’t fair for anyone,” senior Valerie Aich said. “Rigby and I have built a strong relationship over theses past four years. I took his role as a dean very seriously and was an incredible impact on the school and was completely fair with everything.”
Senior Yassir Dasser agrees.
Rigby said he is looking forward to his new position.
“It’s more responsibility and I am looking forward to being more involved,” he said. “I am hoping with this role I’ll still be student centered. I’ll miss being a dean. I’ll miss being with these kids every day.”
Griffin also said he is excited to take on his new positions.
“I’m excited to have been transferred to be the next [athletic] director,” Griffin said. “It has always been a thought of mine, kind of like a dream job. I spent a lot of time as an athlete in both high school and college, almost at the professional level. It feels like a very natural position.”
Senior Olivia Rusek, a member of the volleyball team, said she will miss Rosengard as the athletic director.
“Rosengard has really been so great these past four years that I’ve know him. He has always encouraged me to get better at volleyball and he has always known the right thing to say for each situation,” she said .
Overall, Ness said he is excited for the new changes.
“I am excited to have the opportunity to continue working with Mr. Griffin and Mr. Rigby in their new capacities. I also want to thank Mr. Rosengard for all his contributions to the Niles West community and willingness to assist Mr. Griffin and the athletic department in this transition,” Ness said.
Marc • Nov 22, 2013 at 7:15 PM
as a person who plays both football and does track and field, I am glad to see him go. Rosengard loves some sports and could care less about others. I hope Mr. Griffin will be a better athletic director than Rosengard, but that won’t be hard, all he would have to do is show up for a sporting event other than football, basketball, baseball, or volleyball game.
bob • Nov 21, 2013 at 9:11 PM
Okay, what did rosengard do to be forced to resign, extortion? money laundering? larceny?