Click Here for Dan's on-air report, which contains the voicemail notifying the coach that he was being let go because of his political activism

For the past ten years, Steve Hensel volunteered as head coach of Elkhorn Middle School's 7th grade football team and never really thought much about political activism.  But the day before this past April's elections, his frustration with the Elkhorn Area School District boiled over.

"Our school officials were running unopposed again," he said, noting in particular the candidacy of longtime Board member Dr. Edward Carlson.  "So I wrote an email for a candidate, Paul Martell, and I sent it out to everybody [in the community] and urged them to vote for him as a write-in candidate."

In that email, Hensel chided "the Board's status quo that seems to have given way to a mediocre or an 'it's good enough' mentality.  Of primary concern is the lack of members willing to make the personal sacrifice necessary in assertive discipline....It is time for the members of our community to expect more, and the members of our school board to do more!"

"There are people on the board who have served 20-plus years and the big question I have is 'what does somebody who's served that long bring new to the table?'" Hensel asked rhetorically.  "To move forward in a good direction, you need new people, new blood."

Martell didn't beat Carlson, but he did receive 300 write-in votes on just a day's notice, and Hensel alleges that that prompted Dr. Carlson and his wife Wendy, who also serves on the board, to get him fired as the 7th grade coach.

"The husband and wife were behind it, and they directed other school board members, who directed the district administrator to have the [athletic director] tell me this."

When contacted by Newsradio 620 WTMJ, Wendy Carlson had no comment and repeated calls to District Administrator Greg Wescott and Athletic Director/Elkhorn High School head football coach Dean Wilson were not returned.  On Wednesday, though, Wilson left a voicemail for Hensel explaining the situation.

"Steve Hensel, this is Dean Wilson.  I didn't want to leave a message with this, I wanted to talk to you, but that's not happening.  Okay, a couple of things.  Number one, as far as you coaching 7th grade football, I got the word from Wescott--and this is based on the Martell letter and the Carlsons things--that he would not allow me to allow you to coach 7th grade football.  It's a loyalty thing and all of this stuff, and I talked to him about it and argued with him and it was like, 'Nope, it's a done deal.'  And I know how much you've enjoyed it and I know how good you've done because I like you coaching kids.  Anyway, that's where we are right now this year as far as the coaching situation."

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has no official guidelines for the dismissal of volunteers, and a spokesman said such matters are between the volunteers and their respective school districts.  The Elkhorn Area School District's policy is to require coaches to submit lists of volunteer assistants to the athletic director, who then submits the list of all volunteers to the school board for final approval.

Board president Susan Leibsle maintained that this process has not yet taken place for the 2008-2009 school year, and had no comment about Hensel's claims other than "the board has the right to choose whomever they want to volunteer."

Whether or not any rules were broken, Hensel believes that he was treated unfairly for expressing his political beliefs.

"According to [Wilson], who is probably number one in my mind as somebody that I look up to and care about, he stated to me a year ago that I more than any other coach in the district give more to the football program than anyone else and then being told that I cannot coach based on basically a letter I wrote encouraging people to go to the polls, that's not right.  That's clearly not right.  It's not morally right, it's not ethically right."