Gerry: I was unable to make last night’s School Committee meeting but regular commenter Kim Scott attended and wrote today’s Post:
The School committee meeting this evening was quite eventful in my opinion. It seemed like there was a lot of tongue holding not to offend the unions.
The amount of $249,305 was cut from the original 2011 athletic budget and then the motion this evening was to restore $176,668. This was to be done by limiting coaching positions to (1) Varsity coach, (1) Assistant coach, and (1) freshman coach that already has a separate freshman team.
Mr. Lang prepared a great chart showing all spending per sport and then giving a per student cost.
Jeff Moore who is Lowell High’s new football coach spoke and said that this was not the deal he was hired for and that there have been over 30 students that have received concussions. He stated that the School committee needs to think about safety before making these cuts.
Dr. Scott made it known that it did not seem appropriate to hear about safety and legal concerns now in a public meeting. Dr. Scott surely would have done her homework on the number of staff needed for safety reasons if it had been brought to her attention earlier as it should have been.
Mr. Leary made a motion to add another $20,000 in addition to the $176,668. This was struck down by Mr. Millinazzo, Ms. Martin, Ms. Doherty, and Ms. Laraba. Ms. Laraba commented that it seemed Mr. Leary pulled this number from thin air and that he did not have an explanation of how he came up with this round number. Ms. Doherty and Ms. Martin were concerned that we are taking money away from educators to pay for sports and did not want to add more.
Ms. Martin then made the best motion of the evening for Dr. Scott to report on how many coaches are needed by the Football coach to assure player safety and then make them either fundraise, hire volunteers, or cut the number of players rather than to cut other sports programs.
My Take-Kim
- I would agree that Mr. Leary should not just throw out a round number like $20,000 and that his motion should have been to add back XYZ employees that he thought were needed and explain why to the public.
- The coach’s stipends are too high and it seems they were the targets of the cuts vs. equipment, refs, and floor time which is good.
- Mr. Moore said that Everett has 13 coaches on the sideline for the children’s safety. I sent an email looking for the number that is on actual payroll but I would guess that the majority are volunteers. I know Cambridge lists (1) Head Coach, and (1) Assistant only. I think he may be making a mess for himself.
- Other cities that I have looked up have a flat stipend and no step system like Lowell.
- I understand that Mr. Leary and Mr. Leahy do not want the athletes to suffer but when do we let Mr. Georges know the money just is not there?
- I appreciated the ski coach saying he was trying to negotiate lower lift ticket prices to save the city money. It was nice someone was trying.
- The girls and boys sports are NOT equal still
Kim Scott
The number was not out pulled out of “thin air” – The motion would have added one additional asst football coach, one asst crew coach and asst girls and boys basketball coaches. One can disagree w/the additional monies, but one should know what they are talking about before they asscert such comments.
Furthermore, neogotiatons are ongoing w/the union and changes will be made. It will, however, take significant time to complete the negotiations. The coaching fees are not the only issue within the teacher negotiations and, frankly, they are not the most important or costly item we will be discussing/negotiating. I would opine that health care and sick leave buy back costs have much greater value.
Please be assured that the we will work very hard w/ the business community and others in order to raise monies to replace the asst coaches and ensure safety. Mr Conway has already set up an athletic sub-committee meeting for next Wed. in order to ensure that this will occur. Bluntly, we will succeed in this effort!
As a parent of a former Girl high school varsity school athlete and current varsity tennis player in college, I can assure you and everyone else that there is parity between girls and boys sports. However, there currently are no girls football, hockey or wrestling teams. Although, girls can play on all of the aformentioned teams if they so desire. If there is any interest w/starting such teams for girls, I would be the first one to support them. Further if there any other girl sports interests I would support that as well. There is cheerleading and field hockey for girls, but the boys can play on them if they so desire.
On a side note; Mr. Leahy and I had a motion to reinstate some of the Lib media folks, this will be addressed and likely will occur once we have a firm number on the dollars received from the charter school monies.
Parents do volunteer and fundraise for all of the different sports and activities and clubs at LHS. Safety should always be a concern and I am confused as to why the athletci director did not include any of the injury information in his report when suggested the cuts. Sports and clubs need to be available to as many students as possible and I need to say that if they put a fee of $200 on it, as the Sun said Mr. Leahy suggested then that would eliminate the opportunity for my children as well as many others I’m sure. I pay my taxes, volunteer on a consistent basis and now would have to pay a fee too – which would not be possible as I do not work. Let someone show the numbers of dropouts and how it increases when these things are taken away from our children. Why are we supporting alpine skiing, golfing, is this really the type of sports that an urban school district can afford, are the number of children participating as high as the sports and activities that are now in jeopardy! School committee members please pressure the teachers union to step up to the plate– they are still the only ones that have not made a sacrafice!!! Enough already!
We need to stay on point and focus on how to achieve the goal… All of the sports should be good enough to save. The clubs too. We have and will continue to ask the union for reductions in the pay schedules.
You cannot just make the union do what you want them to do…By law, you have to negotiatate….It can be frustrating, but we will continue to work at it. I appreciate your comments and work supporting the sport programs. I can only ask that you remain focused – we will get the appropriate monies to ensure that all LHS sports are played and remain, as they were last year safe…FYI, 33 concussions is not the correct number it was 11…Even 11 is a high number, but the reporting, diagnosing and treatment of all head injuries has improved. And I mean really improved in the past five years alone. This is true of the NFL/NHL etc. This can only be a good thing for everyone. Thanks, Jim
Please correct me if I am wrong but at the July 21st meeting a joint motion was made by Mr. Leary and Mr. Leahy to add $125,000 back to the athletic budget. At that time members expressed that they did not want to just throw in $125,000 (round number) without knowing what it was for. The administration worked hard with staff from the athletic department and said they needed $176,668 to keep the programs alive. You then made a motion to add another $20,000 and were met with the same skepticism of “where did that number come from?” Why does this program need it more than teachers in the classroom? If you had a specific dollar amount and specific goals for the $20,000 I did not hear them last night and hence the 4-3 vote. My question for Mr. Leary is why did you not ask for $196,668 on July 21st if you knew that much was needed?
I also would strongly disagree with an athletic fee at this point in time. I did not know that we pay for all of the uniforms and equipment for all students. I would have expected to pay for my child’s own uniform and I would think they would do it on a sliding fee. I have actually found it strange that the city subsidizes my childs lunch( I pay full price but it is not enough to cover the true cost) and now they would pay for my child’s swimsuit or field hockey pads when I am more then capable of doing so and would rather the money go to maintain services. However as a taxpayer I would not want to pay one extra penny with the exorbitant stipends paid to staff.
Crew team kids pay for their own uniforms and the team fundraises for it’s own equipment…
The $125,000, did not include an additional coach to the crew team, ice fees for hockey, ski lift fees for sking; and, reduction of monies from the short term sub account, which would have been reduced from $1 Million to $850,000. When we were looking for the monies we did not want to use the one time costs if we could avoid it.
Consequently, the $125K was sort of the need, but was a strong attempt at being responsible. Also, we are aware of many folks who would donate some monies, but could not get to the $250K on their own. Those folks are still there and plan to contribute.
Somewhat ironic that one committee member actually called us irresponsible. Frankly, if it were not for myself and Mr. Leahy the sport and club topic would have not even been brought up. I call that leadership!
I believe in balance between mental/physical in life. Sort of a Teddy Roosevelt thought process. Intramurals,physical education and sports are equally as important as English and Physics. All prep schools, like Phillips Andover etc agree w/my philosophy. They make everyone play a sport. Yes, everyone.
Mr Leahy and I also had amotion, which passed, working to get the library Media Folks back as well. This may very well occur. We will also have a joint SC and CC Finance sub-meeting to work to add tech positions if at all possible. Again, strong leadership with balance.
I do agree w/you on no fees if possible.
Balance, leadership and respectful opinions, sounds like a pretty good bumper sticker. Have a good weekend. Jimmy
Thanks for trying to add another coach for the crew team!!!! We only have one head coach and one assistant for over 100 kids. Thank goodness for dedicated people who coach for next to nothing. (unlike othe LHS sports, our crew coaches make less than half what other local coaches make…)
I forgot….I do agree that the stips are higher then they should be. I think any reasonable person agrees w/that. And, as it it required by MA state law, we will work to bring them in line w/industry standards during the negotiations. We are not allowed to just reduce them on our own.
“Frankly, if it were not for myself and Mr. Leahy the sport and club topic would have not even been brought up. I call that leadership!”
I strongly agree that $250,000 should not have been cut from the athletic budget. What I guess I just never understood is why Mr. Leary, Mr. Conway, and Mr. Leahy agreed with the amount of the cut to begin with.
“Balance, leadership and respectful opinions, sounds like a pretty good bumper sticker.”
Mr. Leary keep patting yourself on the back! lol
I appreciate your passion and I honestly agree with your oppinion the majority of the time.
Well at least your laughing….I wish I could have taken that vote and the Lib Media vote back. However, I would had to come up w/additional cuts eleswhere, which would have been just as difficult. I was hopeful (without listening to my little voice of reason) that there would be some concessions. Risk taken and no benefit received. What are ya gonna do.