Huron Board of Education votes to keep Matt Jacobs as wrestling coach

HURON – The Huron Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to approve Superintendent John Ruf’s recommendation, which include renewing Matt Jacobs’s high school wrestling coach contact.

Jacobs currently has two Title IX lawsuits filed against him. The lawsuits, which are filed by the parents of two former female McCormick Junior High School students, accuse Jacobs of using his position as the Huron Police detective to protect a wrestler who sexually harassed female students.

Former Huron Board of Education member and current Huron Board of Education candidate Sherry Catri spoke during public comment at the meeting. She said, “I understand as a former board member that you do have a lot of tough decisions, and some of those decisions are not easy to make, because we are such a small community. And in this community, there is just a lot of people we like, there is a lot of people we respect. But not everybody is one hundred percent good, and not everybody is one hundred percent bad.” She ended her speech by saying, “I ask that this board make a decision that errs on the side of children.”

Another woman also spoke out against renewing Jacobs’s contract. She said she was horrified that the words “sexual harassment” were never used at the last board meeting, when the board discussed why they weren’t able to find anyone to co-chair the levy committee. She said that the board needs to talk about what they are doing to combat harassment, because the harassment “is really destroying public perception of this community’s school.”