For Many Student Athletes, Game Over

This from the New York Times, and photo by G. Paul Burnett:

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. — Student athletes in maroon and gold uniforms filled their water coolers with more than $19,000 in donations last weekend by standing on street corners here to ask friends, neighbors and strangers alike to help revive the school district’s $1.1 million athletic program, which was eliminated last month in budget cuts.

“They cut out part of my life,” said Mark Cole of Mount Vernon, N.Y., whose senior season on the basketball team is in jeopardy.

On Long Island, a group of parents started a charitable corporation, Wantagh S O S (Save Our Students), to collect money for nearly 100 sports teams and extracurricular clubs that were dropped from the school district’s budget last month. The group has raised more than $334,000, about half of its goal, through dinner parties, car washes, a lacrosse tournament and a walk-a-thon at Jones Beach.

And come fall, middle school students in Dearborn, Mich., will have to settle for fewer games after every team’s season was cut by a quarter, or about two weeks, to save $130,000 annually on busing and coaching. The district trimmed the schedules after students and parents opposed its plan to replace the sports teams with an intramural program, in which students would not have competed against other schools.

As cash-strapped school districts across the nation scale back sports programs or try to pass on part or all of their costs to students and parents, some fear that the tradition of the scholar athlete is at risk....

In Athletics: Publics to Give Privates the Cold Shoulder

This from the Courier-Journal:

Superintendents discourage public schools from playing private schools

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, which represents 174 public-school districts in the state, endorsed a plan today that would eventually mean fewer sports contests against private schools.

Kentucky’s public and private high schools have been at odds over athletics for at least three years; public schools contend that private schools have an advantage because they can draw their students – and athletes – from large geographic areas, and public schools are much more restricted.

The KASS revealed its “schedule reduction” plan today, and their executive director, Blake Haselton, paid a courtesy call on the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s board of control in the morning to provide details.

The wording of the plan:

“KASS has endorsed a proposal that would encourage all Kentucky public high schools to no longer enter into any contract to participate in any sports event with any Kentucky non-public high school. Exceptions:“

(1) Existing contracts will be honored;“

(2) Games that must be played in order to qualify for championship play;“

(3) Due to community pressure, continuance of contracts with in-county/close proximity non-publics with long standing positive relationships;“

(4) Public schools are encouraged not to invite but may participate in
multi-school events that include non-public schools.”

Jefferson County Public Schools superintendent Sheldon Berman said that the
concerns are "viable and serious" but he said Louisville public schools aren't
participating.“At this point we’re not specifically going to do anything other
than what we’re doing,” he said.

Haselton appeared before the KHSAA board about an hour. Afterward, he
said:“Yes, they just won’t be playing private and parochials unless they have
one of those exclusions…. They’ll be playing them in district games that count
toward seeding or if it’s required to eligible for district (tournament)
play.”Haselton added that many schools already have scheduled football and
basketball games for next season and the impact would be greater the following
year.

Public Schools consider boycott of private schools

Public high schools recently were knocked to the canvas in their ongoing sports dispute with private schools, but one leading advocate for public schools said not to count them out yet.

Somerset Superintendent Wilson Sears sent an email last week to every superintendent in the state outlining five possible reactions – including a boycott of private schools.

Sears, who has been on the frontline for the public schools in this nearly three-year debate, said it was "too early to talk about" the next step. He said that public schools still feel that private schools have an unfair athletic advantage and that his group doesn’t plan to walk away without a fight."We have heard from a whole lot of people," Sears said. "If anybody feels like this has gone away they are mistaken. It’s not going to go away."We’re not inclined to give it up for our kids.

There will be some strategy sessions that will happen among public school leaders. It’s not over."The final — and most controversial — suggestion in the email was for public schools to band together and refuse to play private schools during the regular season."It would take a huge buy-in for that to work, and we don’t know if that’s possible," Sears said. "Everyone hopes it doesn’t come to that. But I do think if the guys that voted on this don’t go back and reconsider it — and I have no reason to believe they would – but if they don’t reconsider it and no discussion...

"Do people really expect the public school people across the state – which is 90 percent of the population – to tuck our tails and say we lost?"...

This from the Courier-Journal.

Sports eligibility proposal rejected by legislative panel

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A controversial plan that would cost some high school athletes a year of sports eligibility received a harsh rebuke yesterday from a legislative subcommittee, which declared the idea "deficient" in a 6-0 vote.

The plan, called Proposal 2, would define athletic feeder systems for private schools somewhat similar to those imposed on public schools. Many students who cross those boundaries -- moving from a public middle school to a private high school or vice versa -- would have to sit out of competition for a year.

This is a clear signal from this legislative committee that the current Proposal 2 is not acceptable as a solution to the allegations of recruiting in athletics," said Kevin Noland, interim commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education.

Proposal 2 grew out of public schools' view that private schools can recruit athletes, which is against the rules, under the guise of recruiting students. Proponents also point out that private schools have no attendance boundaries and can offer financial aid to needy students.

However, the idea of unfairly penalizing some students to prevent cheating by a few appeared to be the main irritant for lawmakers.

Yesterday's vote was not, in itself, fatal. The issue goes before a House-Senate education committee next month and now is on Gov. Ernie Fletcher's agenda...

This from the Courier-Journal.