Kill sport. No, this is not a new video game, movie, or disconsolate teen revenge fantasy but an option being considered by the Vancouver School Board of Trustees. The current budgeting process requires that many difficult decisions impacting students, staff, parents, and community need to be made. The School Act requires that school districts present annual balanced budgets regardless of temporary changes in circumstances that can be corrected over time. So, if budgetary requirements are adhered to, the Vancouver School Board needs to shave nearly $13 million from its 2014-2015 budget. One of the solutions being proposed to save approximately $70,000 is the elimination of the District Athletic Coordinator position.
In an era in which student physical health and activity is being compromised by an obsession with sedentary technological entertainment devices, a move that would diminish student opportunities to participate in sport through extra-curricular public school athletics must be reversed. Extra-curricular athletics serve a large segment of the Vancouver public school student population including 20,000 student student-athletes, 2,000 volunteer coaches, 1,500 teams, 18 secondary school sports leagues and eight elementary school sports leagues, and several district-wide one-day sports events.
VSB http://www.vancourier.com/news/vancouver-school-board-hears-public-pleas-1.974681http://www.vancourier.com/news/vancouver-school-board-hears-public-pleas-1.974681 is largely volunteer-based relying on volunteer teacher and community coaches and student managers, timers, score-keepers, and referees for some grades. Tens of thousands of hours are provided annually by volunteers who recognize the value of participation in school sports as an integral part of students’ whole-person development and models an important value we espouse: Giving Back. However, in order to facilitate and support this spirit of volunteerism and Giving Back, coaches require an effective infrastructure and dedicated administrative support.
Vancouver secondary schools have staff designated with the additional task of Athletic Director who are given an insufficient amount of prep time to use towards organizing extra-curricular athletics within their school. Tasks include: distributing and collecting uniforms, registering school teams, organizing and training student scorers and timers, and the increasingly difficult task of finding volunteer teacher and community coaches who are willing to Give Back. Elementary schools do not have designated Athletic Directors to support extra-curricular sport. Where each school may be tasked with organizing within, they certainly do not have the capacity to organize city-wide leagues and events. Thus, the importance and need for a District Athletic Coordinator to provide the administrative support necessary for district-wide leagues and events to function.
The loss of the VSB District Athletic Coordinator position will necessarily mean the loss of numerous extra-curricular athletic opportunities for the currently active 20,000 student-athletes in our district. Of grave concern, is that it will also lead to a greater inequality between students with financial resources and those without. Diminishing public school extra-curricular athletics will inordinately impact low-income and inner-city students who already face many barriers to success in school. For many students, participation is school sports is their primary motivation to be in school. For others, the opportunity to earn athletic scholarships may provide their only opportunity to pursue post-secondary dreams.
For the returns gained from Giving Back and the enormous benefit student-athletes receive from participation in extra-curricular athletics, it costs fractions of pennies on the dollar to fund a dedicated District Athletic Director. Surely, that value is recognized in contributing to a balanced budget and balanced student lives.
Steve Anderson is a parent and volunteer basketball coach.
