OT: Ann Arbor schools cut freshman sports teams
In a cost-cutting move, the Ann Arbor school district has decided to cut all freshman sports teams except football. They're also cutting several sports programs entirely -- including lacrosse -- though those programs do have the opportunity to return as club sports.
I believe it was either cut some funding for the sports programs, or lay off staff members like teachers, para-educators, etc. It is sad, but I would rather have the education curriculum in tact and develop sports programs through other means.
The only two choices.
Forbid administrators take pay cuts...I know about this all too well
In order to attract and maintain an excellent working environement for teachers you need to recruit and maintain quality administrators. It is a catch 22. You cannot maintain and hire quality and effective educators (research has shown overwhelmingly a student's teacher is the number one influence on their education) without a healthy working environment. Past work has shown the top variable for recruiting and maintaining the top educators are adminstrators with high leadership abilities.
There are many things effed up about our current public education system. NCLB, curent funding levels, school safety, athletics importance on a district's bundget, high variability in curriculua, and assesment are just a few of the many things that need to reformed in public education.
Sounds like what you're saying is laying off the bottom 10% would be more productive than reducing salaries by 10% in terms of education. Obviously given that one or the other had to be done. Correct?
I am not saying that at all. All I am saying is that we need to honestly look at the priorities in our school budgets. We also need to look at the curriculas of teacher and administration training programs. Coming from afamily of educators, I side with educators all the time. However, I also recognize the need for high quality leadership in the administration ranks.
Looks like a district administrator just negged you.
I would like to undo that now.
This sucks some kids develop late and wont get a chance to play.
They'll just have to work harder to make JV and/or try again next year.
Where Im from freshman year is a crucial time in a kids life they start getting exposed to drugs, drinking, and sex, sports keeps kids out of that and gives them a reason to try and get good grades so they can stay eligible otherwise some of those kids could have ended up on the wrong path me being one of them.
what a wonderfully bad runon sentance! a little more in the classroom perhaps?
/ half s
I agree with you. Just b/c you don't make the JV team as a freshman doesn't mean you should give the sport up. Work hard and come back as a soph and make another run. If I was a JV coach at these schools I would encourage all freshman to show up a JV practices and work towards getting better. Michael Jordan seemed to do okay after he got cut as a freshman in high school.
Very common misconception. Jordan played all four years in high school. When he got "cut" he didn't make the varsity team, but they did place him on the junior varsity so he could be the man and quickly develop.
I'm not sure if it happened, but the city of Cleveland almost cut ALL sports programs a couple years ago because of funding.
We don't have freshman sports where I live. The freshmen are allowed to play, but they have to compete with 10th graders to make JV squads. It's pretty sad.
actually, this is not "sad." It's pretty common.
Poverty and bullying are common, too. That doesn't prevent them from being sad.
What's "sad" is that the economy has reached a point where extracurricular/athletic opportunities are being taken away from youths. I agree with the above poster that I'd rather have athletics taken away than teaching positions, but that doesn't make cutting sports okay. It's just a necessary evil.
maybe this will bring 'The Sandlot' type sports environment. I know I always prefered playing shinny and bball court roller hockey with neighbors, brothers, and friends to the overly officiated, parent coached, organized hockey.
Biggest difference: in pond hockey pent up anger wasn't released in slashes and cross checks but with actual fighting. Epic. Brawls. Then back to the game!
I guess there is opportunity for some private sports leagues to expand. Also, hopefully JV teams will carry larger squads or maybe practice squads of some sort.
You didn't play high school hockey?
You turned to hockey because there were no Asians?
(meant as a joke - your other thread on going through hockey recruiting was great)
My school district just cut the 7th-8th grade sports also. Shame. This is only gonna weaken the football and basketball talent for recruiting. Not that anyone good comes from my district anyways but still.
Didn't Michigan just set up a varsity lacrosse team? Guess we won't be seeing too many local recruits.
Does anyone know what happened to "Pay to Participate" for high school sports? Are all school districts in on this? I would think the only drawback would be some districts being in areas where households are from a lower income class level were unable to install this as there could have been the possibility of little participants in the sports programs.
Ann Arbor has pay to paricipate. $50 for middle school, $150 for high school.
here in the wonderful state down south, where the school funding process was declared unconstitutional in 1997, and where the state has yet to come up with a constitutional plan to fix it 14 years later, if your levies don't pass, you get things like this (instead of cutting sports): $500 per student per sport in high school, $325 per student per sport in junior high, $325 per student per activity among (marching band/theatre/chorale), $50 per student for orchestra. Just one district, but will surely price many kids out of sports, especially those who used to be multi-sport, or multi-activity. It's hurting all over.
acapella
and then consolidating bathrooms.Well, they've got to balance the budget somehow. It's really too bad. My son is a rising 7th grader in a private school that ends at 8th grade. We have to decide whether to send him to an AA public high school after that. No available sports in 9th grade (except football) could be one more thing in the "no" column.
coming from a small town without a large university right next door, how much do they get from parking throughout the year for michigan sports? maybe pioneer shouldnt spend so much money making their lawn all nice like an old person would do. I would be pissed if I was a freshman who wanted to play sports but wasnt good enough to make jv
In my school district (Which I am currently attending) They cut all 7th and 8th grade sports except for football, sideline cheerleading, and volleyball. They have to fundraise to keep even those sports.
The leaders of this country decided to fund war instead of citizens' well being. Thus everyone else is forced to deal with it.
Go away troll.
I don't think we're even talking about the same funding pool here. But if it makes you feel better you might as well just shout "haliburton". That seems to be a convincing keyword to some people.
I don't know how this shit is gonna work. The district where I go to school (Bedford Public Schools) just closed the elementary school I went to from k-6th grade, laid off 30 or 40 something teachers, and consolidated buses and are still in a shortfall. They haven't cut any sports teams yet but they increased the amout you have to pay to play. Glad I only have one year left there. How kids are supposed to get a good education with all these cuts I don't know...
is that we are spending so much $$$ on ^&##*!% wars that we don't even prioritize investing in physical and human infrastructure. Treating this like "an either/or" deal is just caving into the Thatcherist "There Is No Alternative" dogma.
one has to wonder, in light of both HS and university budgets, if the European model of schools and athletics might take hold. That is, leave schools and universities to educate and athletics as separate organizations*.
For me, this is a superior system to the subsized athletic program model (EMU is a recent example). At which point does the balance between education and athletics shift and a 'school' become more about athletics? (I'm looking at you SEC'ers)
*Obviously very difficult to do the ingrained culture in America with schools and their sports teams. Here in France, not an issue.
I honestly feel this is the direction we are heading. Budget shortfalls will only increase the strength of the AAU and club system in the country.
Isnt football more costly to operate (equipment, insurance)? So if your are trying to save money why then would you keep freshman football and cut all freshman sports and some other sports entirely?
Football is the biggest moneymaker. None of the other sports get any return on their investment. Plus people would literally rebel. Parents would move their kids out of the school district, mob the school board offices, etc. Football is sacred. I'm not even exaggering. You should have seen the reaction from parents when the schools where I live cut just the FRESHMAN football program.
It'll get you shot in some other states.
Back when I was in high school, we only had JV and Varsity teams in all sports.
Where I coach now, we only have JV and Varsity football teams. Most, if not all, of our competition only has JV and Varsity football teams. It's really not the end of the world.