News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Sisters School Board will decide how to cut the school sports program, and review the controversial school calendar when they meet Monday, July 27.
The board has been presented with two options for slashing $22,500 out of the co-curricular budget. One option calls for "across the board" cuts, eliminating some assistant coaching positions and reducing transportation expenditures, without targeting any specific sports.
The second option would eliminate the wrestling program and also reduce transportation expenditures.
According to Swisher, that appears to be the option favored by most of the schools' staff.
"The staff, in general, seem to say, 'if we make a cut we should be considering cutting some sports and funding those that we do fund at a more adequate level to reduce the need for fund-raising,'" Swisher said.
Wrestling has the smallest turnout of students among the sports in the program, Swisher noted.
"The main argument in favor of this option from the staff is, well, there's only 10 or 11 students involved at this point," Swisher said.
According to Swisher, "across-the-board" cuts would not impact all sports equally.
"You can't just go to each sport and say 'reduce 10 percent,'" Swisher said. "It's not an equal 10 percent per sport."
Some smaller sports' budgets are mainly taken up with coaches' salaries, which can't be cut unilaterally.
The options for the cuts were derived mainly from the input of middle school athlectic director Chuck DeKay and high school athletic director Mary Flande. They also provided a more draconian option that could come into play if the schools' budget situation worsens.
Under that option, the schools could cut $46,424 and go to a "core program." That option would eliminate wrestling, soccer, golf, swimming, skiing, dance and cheerleading from the program.
Swisher said the schools won't know until December if the budget picture will demand more cuts.
The school board will also review the school's calendar, in the face of a community debate over whether an extended school year has been a worthwhile effort.
The board meets Monday, July 27, at 7 p.m. in the lecture/drama room at Sisters High School.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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