ELGIN -- Some middle school and high school sports and staff are being eliminated to help plug School District U46's $53.5 million financial hole.
District officials announced at Monday night's board meeting that they will make $4.9 million in spending reductions, including the elimination of several staff positions, a reduction in some athletic programs at the middle and high school levels, and reductions in some discretionary funds such as for supplies and travel.
(Sun-Times Media File)
"Reductions are never easy," Ron Ally, U46's chief financial and operations officer said. "In making these midyear reductions, we are trying our best to minimize the impact on classroom instruction."
However, parents and coaches say they're cutting what most students come to school for -- the extra-curricular activities.
Mary Smith, whose son is a freshman at Bartlett High School, said at tonight's board meeting that the cutting of sports teams at the high school level is of "great concern" to many students in the district who are looking forward to joining a sport. She said she has heard the district is considering eliminating all high school "B" teams next school year. The district said it has not decided as of yet what will be cut for next school year.
Cindy Carvey, a parent whose daughter was cut from Bartlett's Eastview Middle School "B" basketball team last week, said it was "devastating."
"She came home and she was so excited" that she made the basketball team, Carvey described.
Then, Carvey said she went to pick her daughter up from practice and her eyes were swollen from crying "because her team was cut."
This decision, Carvey said, has serious repercussions. The district is "taking away the will and the desire to even have the kids come to school," she said. "Kids' thinking is 'if I don't get a "C" on this test, I can't play next week.' Sports are an incentive for kids to do well in school."
Ken Hall, head soccer coach at Larkin High School in Elgin, agreed and added that "every study shows that students that are involved in extracurricular activities at school are better students."
"I can say that every one of my soccer players from last year's number one-ranked state team is in college today," Hall said in an e-mail to The Courier-News. "And believe me when I say that more than half of them told me directly that they never would have finished high school if it was not for soccer."
But with fewer sports teams, fewer may be going to college, Bartlett mom Carvey said.
Carvey was told by her daughter that freshman girls' volleyball is being cut next year and that freshmen will have to try out for the sophomore team. Carvey said she worries that "it's only going to get worse and all that's going to be left is football and male basketball."
"If there are no sports, or very few of them left, how are they supposed to be looked at for college?" Carvey asked. "Some kids depend on athletic scholarships. If they're not playing, how are they going to get them?"
The district eliminated all boys and girls middle school "B" teams this year, which in turn eliminated coaches and reduced spending on transportation costs, saving the district about $110,000. The district is closing its high school swimming pools on a staggered schedule to cover scheduled events for this school year, saving the district about $200,000. The district also reduced the number of assistant coaches at the high school level, which in turn reduced the amount spent on stipends, saving the district about $166,000 on high school athletics.
More sports team cuts could occur next year, according to district staff. However, nothing's been set in stone yet. The district is only beginning to look at the 2010-11 budget, according to district officials.
Regardless, Scott Miller, a former substitute teacher in the district, current U46 special education aide and coach of Elgin's Kimball Middle School basketball and football teams, said he thinks that axing sports is "just an easy way out and there has to be a better way to manage the money."
"I feel really bad for the kids," he explained. "The kids didn't put the district in a 50-something million-dollar hole, and the kids are being asked to pay the price. It seems like a raw deal to me."
Miller said after his "B" basketball teams began practice a week ago, they were told on Thursday that their teams were being eliminated.
The students "seemed like they were kind of in shock," he described. "One girl come up to me and told me she'll be 'devastated' if she can't play. Some boys on the basketball team told me that they really wanted to play this year and now they're not going to get this opportunity."
Carvey said it's not fair that these opportunities are being taken away and that the district should consider cutting elsewhere, or in her case, not making her "pay for bilingual textbooks" when her children speak English.
In any case, Miller said "a lot of coaches are talking and they're saying it doesn't look good."
For more information, visit the district's Web site, u-46.org.