Parents of Westbrook High School girls softball players told administrators Friday they didn’t feel as though school officials were listening to their concerns during a trying season that ended with the resignation of the coach.

The parents met with school administrators last week after softball coach Steve Vowell resigned May 30, saying he had received two notes threatening him and his family. Police are still investigating the threats.

The resignation led Vowell and Gary Groves, the former athletic director who is now the athletic director at Deering High School, to criticize Westbrook administrators for failing to support coaches and athletic staff in conflicts with parents.

“It’s been a difficult past couple of weeks in Westbrook,” said Principal Marc Gousse. “I have felt a lot of pain, and have not slept well at night because of some of the things that have been said.”

Gousse and Todd Sampson, current athletic director, met with about 20 parents at the high school in a session that was at times tense and occasioned by angry outbursts from frustrated parents, many of whom declined to identify themselves, even to Gousse and Sampson.

“You folks, as Westbrook softball parents, have really gotten a raw deal, in newspapers and online,” said Sampson regarding media reports that portrayed the Westbrook parents as softball fanatics going overboard. “I really think you guys have gotten a black eye. And I apologize for that.”

“At the end of the day, it’s about the kids,” Sampson continued, before a parent interjected suddenly to complain that school officials had not returned her calls.

Amid a few accusations of unreturned communication, Gousse jumped in to calm the parents, but the meeting had been opened by the eruption, and another parent remarked that he thought the meeting was held for talking, not listening.

Gousse went on to explain the chain of command for complaints and concerns to be lodged – from coach, to athletic director, to principal, to superintendent and to the elected school committee – and noted that situations should be taken care of at the lowest possible rung of the ladder.

But parents voiced concern that their children were being unduly reprimanded any time a parent went to the coach or to the athletic director.

Parents were upset for a number of reasons with the coaching this past season, including the benching of certain players and the way Vowell had treated their daughters. There seemed to be a consensus that in all attempts to communicate their concerns, they weren’t listened to.

Steve Wescott, parent of one of the players and infield coach for the softball team, said he wasn’t even aware of some of the concerns that were being voiced at the meeting.

After the meeting, parent Susan Quinlan said she knows of a handful of parents who went over the coach to the athletic director, and two parents who went to the principal.

As parents spoke, Gousse took notes, reiterating at the end of the meeting what he had heard from the parents – that there had been a failure of communication, that administrators should take notice when players are quitting a team and top administrators should be more visible at games.

Asked Tuesday about the meeting, Gousse said he thought it went well. He said he didn’t think the meeting was “an end-all and be-all,” but a beginning of a conversation.

“There’s obviously some emotion and very intense feelings,” Gousse said. “You could sense that.”

Gousse said after the meeting several parents apologized to him.

Quinlan, who had to leave the meeting early, said when she returned there were parents “shaking their heads” as they left. Gousse and Sampson “kept telling us the chain of command,” Quinlan said. “We’ve done this and it doesn’t work. It didn’t seem like there was anything resolved.”

But Quinlan also said the administration is “trying, it’s just very early.” She said the meeting was a step in the right direction and opened communication, but there was “a lack of action on the communication, and a lack of understanding the communication.”

Forgetting about the softball coach drama for a minute (saving the drama for their mamas, you might say), members of the Westbrook High School girls’ softball teams chill out with some cake and ice cream at their year-end banquet. About 20 parents met with Athletic Director Todd Sampson and Principal Marc Gousse for the hour before the banquet, discussing concerns after a coach recently quit. “I want to move forward with the community, and the program,” siad Gousse.