Accusations made in a letter of resignation from football coach Chris Kempton, who left his head coaching position at Scarborough High School less than a month after being hired, have kicked off a rift between the town’s football club and the school board.

Kempton presented the letter to the school on Monday, March 19, citing several reasons for resigning.

Kempton, who was hired on March 1 as head football coach at Scarborough High School, was also awarded positions as education technician for special education students, junior varsity baseball coach and monitor of the weight room.

After 1 1/2 days as an ed tech, Kempton resigned from that position. One of his reasons for leaving, he said, was the teaching position for which he was hired “was not what I expected, nor was it something I could continue to do.” He also cited the fact that he was not guaranteed full time employment in the fall. School board member Dianne Messer said that Kempton had viewed the classroom before accepting the position. “He knew what he was getting into,” she said.

According to school board member Jane Wiseman, a member of the committee that hired Kempton, it was made clear to applicants during the interview process that a teaching position at the school was not guaranteed to come along with the coaching position, but that it would be acceptable to teach at another school in the area while coaching at Scarborough. According to Council Chairman Jeff Messer, who spoke about Kempton’s resignation during his councilor comments at a meeting on March 21, the majority of coaches at Scarborough High School do not hold teaching positions at the school.

Kempton also mentioned the reaction to comments he made to the media as another reason he decided to resign. In the March 15 issue of The Current, Kempton was quoted saying, “We’ve had four sessions in the weight room and we’ve had over 30 kids participate.” High school principal Pat Conant thought readers might misconstrue Kempton’s comment, thinking he was coaching out of season, a violation of the Maine Principals’ Association.

Conant notified the MPA that Kempton was not violating any rules, but was hired as the weight room monitor, overseeing use of the equipment by all athletes, including football players. In his letter of resignation, Kempton said he disagreed with the decision to self-report and criticized the MPA policy, claiming that if coaches are not involved with their players out of season, the players “will seek out personal trainers, which in turn will lead to steroid and/or related drug use in an attempt to grow as athletes.”

In another newspaper story, Kempton announced the names of his coaching staff before the school board had approved them. Though Kempton admitted his announcement “may have been an error in judgment,” he said that threats from school board members not to approve the coaches was part of a “political power struggle game” in which he would not participate. Dianne Messer said, “All the coaches are always approved,” and she didn’t hear anyone on the school board threaten not to approve them. “There are so much false accusations out there, it’s crazy,” she said.

Messer said that the school board “went above and beyond trying to meet his needs,” because of how excited both the board and the football players were to have him at the school. “We had so much enthusiasm,” she said.

Scarborough Assistant Superintendent Andrew Dolloff called Kempton’s resignation “an unfortunate situation,” especially due to its effect on the student athletes. Dolloff called Kempton’s reasons for resigning “very minor issues” that could have been easily resolved. “I think he pulled the trigger too quickly,” Dolloff said.

Kempton’s reaction to the issues has made Messer question whether he was as good as he seemed for the position. “How’s he going to react to an 0-4 season?” Messer asked. “Is he going to walk of the field?” Messer said that Kempton’s resignation still “doesn’t make sense” to her and she suspects that he has a job lined up somewhere else.

“I think this town needs to move on and pick up the pieces,” Messer said. “Things happen for a reason.”

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