Which sports will play in the Sisters schools?

How will scarce dollars be spent by the Sisters Schools? What sports will be funded, and who will decide?

Should wrestling, with relatively high per student costs, be eliminated in favor of soccer, which would serve many more students for less, according to soccer supporters?

Should one or more sports be eliminated in favor of more instructors for a seriously overcrowded eighth grade language arts program?

These questions may lead to a sharp divide in the weeks ahead as the Sisters School Board attempts to develop formal policies on how nonacademic, co-curricular activities such as sports, drama and music should be funded.

The board expects to meet in a workshop to review the issues on April 4 and adopt a formal policy at the regular board meeting on April 8.

On March 20 the board received a staff report from the school district's co-curricular committee, led by Activities Director Lora Nordquist and Athletics Director Chuck DeKay, that provided a recommendation on what the goals of a co-curricular program should be, as well as some cost figures and proposals for adding or deleting programs.

These proposals suggested that eight criteria should be considered, including availability of funds, student interest, facilities and community support.

The staff report gives responsibility for proposing cuts to the co-curricular program to the coaches, advisors and athletic/activities directors, and puts the burden on those who would like to add a program to show how the new sport would meet the criteria.

The board also received a counter proposal from Rod Morris, who places much more emphasis on student interest in various programs and the cost per participant.

In many ways the two proposals agree. Both emphasize the acquisition of "life-long skills," physical, mental and emotional development and activities which contribute to interest in what the educators called "other school programs" and Morris termed "primary school activities."

But Morris' proposal was much more specific about how a given sports program, such as soccer, could be added or another one deleted. He specified the number of days a proposal from an "interested party" could be reviewed by the athletic/activities director before a denial was appealed to the superintendent and then to the school board.

Morris suggested that the two fundamental criteria on whether a program is added or cut should be "student interest," as determined by a yearly survey, and funding, where the cost per participant would be a major consideration.

This would favor a sport such as soccer, traditionally a high interest, low cost per player sport, and would handicap wrestling, with a high cost per wrestler and few participants.

A policy decision needs to be made in the near future. Sisters Middle/High Principal Dennis Dempsey sees programs getting the ax, "if not this fiscal year, then the next. We will have to cut them outright or find other sources of funding," Dempsey said.

"I think the cost of a sport per student has to be tied in, but you have to study it over a period of time. For instance, we went from 17 to 31 in cross country this year. That cut the cost per student nearly in half," Dempsey cautioned.

Principal Dempsey also acknowledged that he was refused a $10,000 request in January that would have added teaching services to reduce crowding in eighth grade Language Arts and Social Studies classes.

This is about what it cost for high school wrestling in 1995-96, which served 10 wrestlers.

School Board member Connie Morris, who is married to Rod, said that in her opinion, the proposal from staff "supports the status quo."

She said some questions still need to be answered regarding the actual cost of the current co-curricular program. She said that in figures given to the board, there was no money allocated for football uniform replacement.

Board member Morris also is concerned that the cost of substitute teachers for those teacher/coaches on the road with the team are not attributed to the co-curricular budget, thereby distorting the actual cost of maintaining a program.

Athletic Director DeKay and Activities Director Nordquist could not be reached over spring break to comment, nor could school board chairman Bill Reed.

School board member Charles Warren said he had some of the same concerns about the report as Morris, and was concerned that the report did not show any portion of costs for field maintenance and irrigation as part of the co-curricular program costs.

While Warren agrees with Rod Morris that cost per student participant should be considered in evaluating which activities receive school funding, Warren said he believed that dance, drama and the yearbook were "every bit as important as the high-profile athletic programs."

"I think you need to have a program that involves as many people as possible," Warren said.

He believes co-curricular should be effective "for all students in all grades," and would not advocate a pay-to-play option for student activities "until I know that no child is prevented from participating who wants to participate."

Board member Harold Gott said he found "elements in both (proposals) I like, but neither gives us all the tools we need."

Gott said the question of whether wrestling or soccer is funded may be the wrong one to ask.

"I think the question is, can we keep the program as it looks right now when we need a $40,000 teacher? When we have driving academic needs, can we afford whatever the sport is?" Gott asked.

Principal Dempsey feels the 2 percent of the total school budget that co-curricular represents is money well invested, and says the research indicates that participation in co-curricular activities is the best predictor of an individual's later success in life.

But that leaves unanswered, for now, which co-curricular activities will be offered in Sisters, and who will decide?