Ridgefield Press
Ridgefield hires Weston's athletics director
May 23, 2006

Ridgefield has hired Weston Athletics Director Carl Charles to lead its $1-million a year high school sports operation.
�We are delighted he will join us,� Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Freeston told Ridgefield Board of Education Monday night.
Mr. Charles has headed Weston�s athletics program for 11 years and is a member of the executive board of the Connecticut Association of Athletic Directors.
In Weston Mr. Charles managed a sports program with an $800,000 annual budget, supervising 51 teams with 70 coaches.
�Weston High School has placed in the top three Class S schools every year since 1983,� his resume states. �Eight out of the past 10 years Weston High School has taken first place in the small school division.�
 Some 75% of the students at Weston High School play at least one sport and �approximately 50%� play two, his resume says.
In Weston Mr. Charles developed an after-school skills development program for students in grades five to eight.
Before becoming an athletics director Mr. Charles  had experience coaching high school basketball, football and lacrosse at Weston, Masuk and Wilton.
When he takes over after the end of the school year, Mr. Charles will replace Ron Mergardt, who had proved immensely popular in a year-long stint as Ridgefield�s athletics director.
The state had ruled Mr. Mergardt�s credentials and decades of experience in New York State didn�t meet the standards for administrators in Connecticut. Despite a groundswell of support from students and parents at the high school, Ridgefield�s school board and the administrators union passed on suggestions that they redefine the position so he could continue to hold the job for another year or two. Mr. Mergardt himself, who has served as an interim athletics director in several New York districts in recent years, had said he�d never intended to serve longer than a year or two in Ridgefield.
Dr. Freeston acknowledged Monday night that there had been some talk around town that the new athletics director might be Mr. Charles, who wasn�t at the meeting Monday night in order to announce his departure at a meeting of Weston�s Board of Education.
�You may have heard rumors,� Dr. Freeston said. �He wanted us to hold off until it could be announced in his home district.�
A few weeks before Ridgefield announced the hiring of Mr. Charles away from Weston, the Weston schools had announced the hiring of Jo-Ann Keating, the Ridgefield school system�s business manager.

� Copyright by Hersam Acorn newspapers

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