Head Coach Will Risk Arrest To Attend Sons' School Events

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CLEBURNE (CBSDFW.COM) - Cleburne High School's head football coach says he will risk arrest to attend his sons' school events.

Coach Jeff Merket is on administrative leave, which bars him from school property unless he has written permission. Merket says he doesn't plan to request permission.

"I guess they could arrest me for trespassing if they wanted to go that route," he said.

After thirty years of coaching it's hard for him to sit at home. The district, he says, left him no choice.

"I'm not their chosen football coach," he said.

Merket says administrators presented him with a resignation letter.

He chose to write his own, blasting the district as a "hostile work environment."

"It's taken a great toll emotionally on my family," he said.

The district placed him on leave until June 30, the end of his contract.

"The details and restrictions of the leave made me feel vilified and felt like a criminal," said Merket.

His step-son, Monday, asked the school board to allow Merket to conduct his college signing ceremony this spring.

"He's done everything he can to get me where I am today," said Braden, a senior at Cleburne High.

The district, though, said Merket must submit a "written request" indicating it "would be granted."

Merket said (like most parents) he won't seek special permission to attend his son's signing, his prom, or his graduation.

"I don't think he should have to ask," said Amanda Whitehead, a fellow Cleburne parent.

She started a petition supporting Merket, which now has more than 600 signatures.

"So now you want him to come crawling back to you and begging you in a sense to be able to attend these things," she said.

But Merket doesn't plan to.