The Akron school board voted Monday to reject an arbitrator’s opinion that former Firestone High School boys basketball coach Joe Wojcik should be given a new coaching contract.The board also made interim coach Dave Milo the official coach for the rest of the season.Arbitrator decisions are merely advisory under the teachers’ union contract with the district, but former Akron Education Association President Bill Siegferth said he could not remember a time when either side rejected an opinion.“This is the first time an Akron Board of Education in my 40 years of experience has ever rejected an arbitrator’s opinion,” Siegferth said.The district decided not to renew Wojcik’s coaching contract in early July and posted the position. The primary issue was a complaint by parents that Wojcik had misappropriated funds collected by parents working concession stands and other fundraising activities so they could hold a team banquet at the end of the year.When they found out there wasn’t enough money to hold the banquet, they started asking questions, said board Vice President Jason Haas.“He was accused of misappropriating funds last year by a handful of parents,” Siegferth said. “The board then investigated those allegations and found that he had not done what the parents were accusing him of.”Haas said it wasn’t that simple. Although the investigation did not find proof of misappropriation, he would not characterize the findings as a vindication, mostly because few records were available to account for the funds. Board President the Rev. Curtis T. Walker Sr. said the arbitrator confused the rights of Wojcik as a business teacher at Ellet High School with his role as a basketball coach.Coaches are hired for one-year contracts that expire automatically. They serve at the pleasure of the board, which does not have to explain why a new contract is offered or not offered. The board’s decision has no bearing on his teaching position.Walker deferred to Siegferth’s claim that the rejection of the arbitrator’s decision was a break from the past.“Well, we began a new history then, because we rejected this one,” Walker said. “We did not feel that it reflected what actually took place. The information that they were looking at had nothing to do with, at the bottom line, supplementary contracts and our right as the board to not renew.”Alternative solutionSiegferth addressed the board behind closed doors to provide an alternative solution.“Joe Wojcik was the person who was the bigger person in this issue,” Siegferth said. “He offered to defer returning until next year for the kids’ sake. He felt it was unfair to the kids to walk in there after the season started. That was the alternative we offered to being reinstated immediately.”Haas said the board did not consider that alternative.Board member James Hardy cast the only vote against rejecting the arbitrator’s opinion. He could not be reached for comment.Parents speak outDerrick Adams and six other parents attended the meeting and spoke to the board behind closed doors, urging that it not give Wojcik the coaching job.“We’re concerned with the way he addresses the children,” Adams said. “If he cares so much about these children, he’d take that grievance vindication and move on and let the kids go on and do what they’re doing. I don’t think he’s right for the program. I don’t think he’s right as a coach.”Wojcik said the superintendent and other district officials have “said all along that I did nothing wrong and that was proven and I don’t know why I don’t have a job.”Siegferth said the union is considering its legal options.“This will not stop here. We cannot afford to have a superintendent who treats his employees the way this man treated Joe Wojcik. We can not let that stand. And we won’t.”Milo, who will be paid about $7,500 for the season, will coach the Falcons against city rival Garfield High School tonight.John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the education blog at http://education.ohio.com/.