ROBERTS – The Roberts School Board accepted the resignation of its high school basketball coach Wednesday night, and the superintendent said a new coach will be hired by the start of this season.
Coach John Payovich submitted his letter of resignation Tuesday in response to misdemeanor charges filed against him for allegedly kissing a 15-year-old female student.
Superintendent Alex Ator read the letter of resignation to the school board Wednesday night. The board accepted it without discussion at the meeting in the school’s library.
Ator also talked about what the resignation means for the small town of Roberts.
“Everybody’s cousin, everybody’s a brother, everybody’s an aunt, everybody’s an uncle of both sides of this,” Ator said. “And it’s very difficult for our community. But hopefully, now we can move onward and forward and we can put what has been a pretty rough eight months for a lot of people, behind us.”
Ator said the most important thing now is for the school to help meet the students’ emotional and educational needs.
He expects to hire a new coach by November.
In August, the Carbon County Attorney’s office charged Payovich with a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutors state Payovich kissed the girl in December 2017 and January 2018.
According to the court documents, Payovich denies the allegations.
Click below to read the resignation letter.
Related:
Roberts district allowed coach on school grounds after charges filed for kissing student
Roberts boys basketball coach accused of inappropriate relationship with female student
Reporting by David Jay for MTN News
