Daily Star photo/KATIE ROHMAN Sources have confirmed at least six managers, including executive director Bret Hendrie, have been fired at the Niles-Buchanan YMCA.

By KATIE ROHMAN and JOHN EBY

Niles Daily Star

At least six people in management and supervision positions at the Niles-Buchanan YMCA have been terminated, sources confirmed for the Star Friday.

Executive director Bret Hendrie; Amy McKean, senior program director; Greg Schuman, membership and marketing director; Missy Young, finance; Penny Sobolewski, member service supervisor; and Maycie Boyle, director of dance, including a new special needs class, are no longer employed there.

The YMCA is currently managed by a 17-member board of directors.

Director Jane Brandstatter said Friday the YMCA is “changing directions.”

“We’re looking for a quick turnaround with an interim director retired from Battle Creek (Mich.),” she said.

Brandstatter said there are “no scandals.”

Interim director Dan Fullenkamp, whose first day on the job was Friday, could not confirm the reason for the terminations.

“I don’t know all the particulars,” he said.

Fullenkamp, a 22-year veteran of the YMCA, said he was contacted by the Niles-Buchanan YMCA board of directors Wednesday.

He has been given a 30-day contract.

“I’m coming up with the task of stabilizing the organization,” Fullenkamp said.

“We are figuring out” how to move forward with the vacant management positions, he said. “I need to evaluate the existing staff and their tasks and desires.”

Sobolewski, who is also a former class instructor, said she learned Friday she lost her job.

“I was told my position was being eliminated,” said Sobolewski, who previously taught classes there as well. She had no indication the action would be taken, and said she was “shocked” by the terminations.

“It is sad, because I’ve poured my heart and soul into that place,” she said. “We were like a family there.

“I think God has prepared a way for us,” she said.

Hendrie would not comment when reached Friday. Board President Sara Bell, a Niles attorney, was also not available for comment.

The Niles-Buchanan YMCA, established in 1941 and located in its 56,000-square-foot building at 905 N. Front St., Niles, since 2006, has approximately 10,000 members.