EG Board Votes To Share Jr Hi Sports

VOTES GOES 3-2; WILL START NEXT YEAR

East Greene school board voted 3-2 on Wednesday, Feb. 15, to share junior high sports next year with Jefferson-Scranton. The vote comes after a work session last month that was primarily dedicated to discussing the pros and cons of offering junior high sports one more year.

Board president Marc Hoffman, Tim Bardole and Ashley Johnston voted in favor with Rich Gordon and David Tipton opposed.

More than two dozen interested students, parents and patrons of the district turned out for the meeting, although some of them were senior class members making a presentation to the board for approval of a senior class trip at the end of the school year. Several others were present to discuss the proposed closing of the Rippey school, which was the topic of a public meeting in Rippey on Jan. 18.

Hoffman and Tipton took sides right off the bat. Hoffman referred to a list of 15 requests to open enroll out of the East Greene district because of the junior high sports situation. He noted these families want to send their children to a school that can offer sports for those grades without concerns that too few students will be available to field a team.

“When I look down at this list, it’s telling us what should be done,” he said. Looking at the list, he noted that if the students listed do leave the district, “we won’t have a girls high school basketball team next year” as apparently some of the middle school parents who expressed in enrolling out were also parents of high school students.

Hoffman said the loss of those 15 students would be “$6,000 each, that’s a loss of $90,000 to the district on top of $146,000 that the state will cut in aid to the district next year. We would be operating with $236,000 fewer dollars.”

Tipton and Gordon acknowledged the numbers for girls are very low but were in favor of keeping boys sports separate next year for junior high but having the girls share.

Bardole had expressed his sentiment that both boys and girls “stay together” for junior high sports in the work session last month. Tipton disagreed, noting that the junior high teams traditionally have participated independent of each other.

Johnston made a point about games being cancelled due to low numbers from opposing teams. This is valid, as in football, East Greene completed an 8-man junior high game where Adair-Casey finished the game with just 8 players and no reserves on the sidelines. She also asked about the girls’ participation levels in junior high volleyball, which school officials say has a higher turnout than basketball and softball.

Hoffman repeated his concerns about students not getting a full participatory experience, noting that in the past years East Greene has had to cancel junior varsity games in football due to low numbers because the JV players needed to be moved up to varsity.

He said the “junior high boys can go over there and learn 11-man football,” but Tipton countered at that age level they are learning the fundamentals, which are the same for both 8-man and 11-man football.

Two parents addressed the board. Mary Millard, parent of sixth grade girl, spoke in support of sharing, Tina King, parent of a seventh grade boy, spoke in favor of keeping boys here.

The board had earlier committed itself to keeping high school sports here at East Greene for two years even though all the students would be attending classes in Jefferson. That decision has since been amended to one more year. The district will need to create a class for all East Greene high school students at the beginning or end of the school day and the class must be taught by an East Greene teacher. Yet all of East Greene’s current junior and high school teachers will be teaching in Jefferson next year.

Bardole, who was out of town, but participated by teleconference, said “we’ve been talking about sports for three years.” He then made a motion for an “up and down vote” on sharing junior high sports with Jefferson-Scranton, which was seconded and approved 3-2.

In other business, the board:

*Approved a senior class trip to Minneapolis. Senior class members Karissa Wilkens and Harrison Johnston appeared before the board to discuss their plans to travel to Minneapolis in May. Amber Wilkens and Jeremy Richards, parents of Karissa Wilkens, and Jake Smith, EG transportation director, will be the chaperones for the trip with Smith handling driving duties. The class has raised enough money to pay for the costs of the trip ($3,100) plus funds for an after-prom party at Misty Lanes in Grand Junction that will cover costs for pizza, soft drinks, bowling and video games ($700).

*Approved offering boys golf for the spring. Athletic director Tony Beger told the board that five students are going out and three have previous golf experience. Team golf scores are comprised of the top four golfers scores. If a full team is not available, golfers can still participate and their individual scores are included the in meet medalist and runner-up competitions.

*Approved spring sports coaching contracts for Charles Brobst, golf; Dean Lyons, boys track; Steve Sillyman, girls track; Tony Beger, junior high boys track; and Ron Fick, junior high girls track.