Schools wrestle with cost of sports programs

In a preview of what promises to be a larger debate when Sisters school budgeting begins in earnest in May, a vocal group of about 40 parents, bus drivers, coaches and administrators met at Sisters High School on Monday, April 16, to share ideas in a school board listening session on one of the major costs in co-curricular sports: Transportation.

Many of those that spoke fit into multiple categories, such as the coach that was also a parent and a retired bus driver. Many of the bus drivers spoke as professional drivers and also as parents of kids in sports.

Board chair Chris Jones said, "We are calling this a school board listening session; this is the school board listening to you. The board is considering adopting a formal policy that would allow coaches the discretion of choosing the mode of transportation. Whether they want big yellow school buses, Type 20 vans, parent-provided transport, or other options."

Type 20 buses carry 14 passengers. State law allows these smaller buses to be driven by anyone over 18 with a valid driver's license that has completed a district-administered two-hour training.

"I coached in Sisters for 10 years as both a downhill ski head coach, and as an assistant track coach," said Superintendent Jim Golden. "In the old days, how Sisters dealt with budget crisis with sports was we cut sports. Basically what we did in 1996, we said we will do football, volleyball, girls and boys basketball, girls and boys track and we won't fund anything else.

"It doesn't seem inherently fair to me that one sport is more important that any other sport - what is important is the sport that your kid is interested in," said Golden. "The district has taken an approach that all sports are equally important and should be based on the number of kids participating in them. What I want as superintendent is kids plugged into our community doing some kind of co-curricular activity."

Golden continued, "We are at a critical juncture in our sports funding history. I have to cut approximately $1 million out of this year's budget on top of $1 million cut last year, and $1 million cut the year before.

"Part of that (squeeze) comes from increased operating costs, but a lot of it is decreased enrollment. We had a high of about 1,485 students in the district. We are now slightly below 1,200," said Golden. "If you look at our incoming kindergarten classes, we have about 40 to 50 kids coming in, and (at Sisters High) we are graduating 150."

Steven Huillet, director of pupil transportation, Oregon Department of Education (ODE) said, "I personally have been in transportation for 27 years; I started as a mechanic. This issue has come up across the state in many, many districts. All districts are looking at budget cuts and still trying to cover sports in the most safe and efficient way that they can.

"ODE does support the use of Type 20 vehicles for extra-curricular activities, understanding (the program) was never designed to replace the use of school buses, but (rather) to implement for small groups and local driving, to be more efficient," said Huillet. (See the web version of this story for Huillet's handout comparing school buses to Type 20 vehicles.)

Huillet emphasized that national statistics show the number-one cause of bus accidents in the nation is fatigued drivers.

A number of the coaches and parents expressed their concern about fatigue when a coach worked all day, drove his team to the contest, coached the team, and then drove the team back home, especially on trips to the Valley and other more distant schools.

There appeared to be somewhat of a consensus that Type 20 buses, driven by coaches or parents, might be workable for local contests with a small number of kids.

Huillet said, "If you look up and down the Valley, most districts have two Type 20s in their fleet for each high school in their district."

Safety of alternative transport was on the minds of many.

John Sanders, retired coach, athletic director and administrator said, "There is only one safe way to transport students, and that is on a big yellow bus with flashing lights ... safety must come first. When I was on the east coast there were communities transporting students with vans and Type 20 buses. There was a catastrophic accident (with) major loss of life. Never again on the east coast was anybody transported with vans or Type 20 buses."

There was a wide divergence of opinion on the use of parents to transport kids to sporting events. Longtime coach of cross-country and track Charlie Kanzig said, "I would like us to consider not having the parent driving being an option at all. There are so many reasons not to do it in cars."

A number of coaches and parents agreed.

Longtime swim coach Isolde Hedemark said, "When we did not have district transportation money, parents have driven their kids and other kids to and from the competition ... we have done this every year (for 17 years) and it worked out really well. But we needed the permission (slips) from all the parents."

Again, a number of coaches and parents agreed.

Golden said, "Currently, as it exists now, coaches in general take the school bus back and forth to competitions. Parents can pick up their children and take them from the athletic contest, and do so quite regularly ... and many times with parent permission, with a written note or by the phone, parents take other kids home, because it is faster. Whether or not you approve of that, it happens widely in all of our sports. It has been that way since 1995 when I got here."

Most of the speakers expressed a great deal of respect and gratitude for the role the professional bus drivers played in safely transporting the kids, and for the role the drivers played in building a positive and protective relationship with their riders.

Parent, former school budget committee member and current planning commissioner Darren Layne summed up the comments of many of those speaking when he said, "... we want to make sure that we are not forced into an all-or-none situation by not being creative. We need to have some alternatives."