Freshmen sports at San Benito High School haven’t necessarily
been saved for the 2011-12 school year, but the possibility of
first-year student-athletes continuing to compete next fall did
receive some positive news on Friday.
HOLLISTER
Freshmen sports at San Benito High School haven’t necessarily been saved for the 2011-12 school year, but the possibility of first-year student-athletes continuing to compete next fall did receive some positive news on Friday.
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Superintendent Stan Rose said he plans to recommend to the board keeping freshmen sports through the following year, a move that appeared difficult to accomplish just three months ago, given the current districtwide shortfall that cut $100,000 from the athletic department’s budget.
But Rose said if freshmen sports have a chance, they need to “put it forward with the rest of the budget.”
“We’re gonna try and buy one more year and see how we’re doing, and if we can turn the corner and get more money back into education,” Rose said. “We’re still looking for our boosters to continue to support sports like they have been the past years. We’re gonna have to have that same level (of fundraising).
“But it’s a holding action, as I see it, and to see where the state is gonna go.”
The state budget isn’t expected to be released until March at the earliest, at which point the board of trustees for San Benito High School could then be able to vote on whether to keep freshmen sports on next year’s program.
“I’m recommending that we keep the sports program the way it is,” Rose said.
In November, during a winter sports meeting for coaches, parents and players, San Benito Athletic Director Tod Thatcher announced to a packed auditorium that freshmen sports were to be cut in 2011-12, as were some less-popular junior varsity sports.
Last week, though, Thatcher relayed a different message to the coaches, parents and players of spring sports, with the outlook a lot more positive.
“We’ll be able to bring the kids back, but we’re gonna need to continue fundraising to keep them on the field,” Thatcher said. “We still have to fundraise more money because we don’t have enough to pay for uniforms or equipment.”
Part of the change in message was word that the Salinas Unified School District committed to keep freshmen sports next year as well. Had it not, the freshmen sports teams at San Benito would have had very few opponents, as Everett Alvarez, Salinas, North Salinas and Alisal all fall within the Salinas district’s umbrella.
“I’m in favor,” San Benito Principal Krystal Lomanto said about the freshmen sports program. “It’s about engaging our kids not only in the classroom, but also in multiple ways. It keeps students going in the right direction.”
Lomanto, too, stressed the importance of continued fundraising efforts, though. Thatcher said in November that freshmen sports equal approximately $35,000 of the $100,000 cut, and keeping freshmen sports part of the program doesn’t help close the hole the athletic department was previously in.
Like in November, though, Thatcher urged those in attendance last Thursday to keep supporting the efforts of Baler Backers, Team Baler and the school’s Quality of Life program through Nob Hill Foods.
“We’re all realizing how important it is to get kids in school, not only with sports but with activities, in general,” Rose said. “This is the hardest time in education — the hardest. We have to decide what is important to us, all of us.”
