Proposal To Cut Sports In Favor Of Technology Goes To Second Vote

In apple-pie Deer Park, high school coaches are given keys to the city and men two generations past their glory days debate the merits of an 18-year-old’s jump shot.

Deer Park High School sports could be called sacrosanct, with Friday wrestling matches and football games sometimes outdrawing Sunday services.

So imagine the talk when the Deer Park school board proposed axing the high school track and C-squad basketball and volleyball teams and spending the $15,000 savings on new computers.

The school board is expected to vote a second time on the issue July 17. The board split 2-2 last week, with one member absent.

The proposal was introduced by newly elected board member Larry Barden, a 59-year-old Deer Park grad who promised to fight for better computer technology instruction during the campaign.

He noted that the district is in the midst of a minor budget crunch, with fewer dollars for special education and transportation floating in from Olympia. And residents approved a break-even levy last November that didn’t help.

So athletics, he said, must suffer equally with academics in budget-cutting times. The track budget is about $7,000, and the three C-squads total about $8,000.

“The funding for technology will affect a lot more than the track program,” said Barden.

The track team numbered just 17, and the track is in such terrible shape that students can’t practice on it. And C-squad players could be absorbed by junior varsity and varsity teams, Barden said.

But the proposal raised the hackles of other school board members, who spent nearly 20 minutes at a recent meeting discussing the search for a new wrestling coach.

“The community has shown its support of athletics,” said school board president Mary Baker. “In an emergency, (cuts to) sports would come before academics. But it’s not an emergency situation.”

The debate stabbed at sensitive issues of money and priorities. The district spends about $200,000 on sports and less than $35,000 on technology, noted board member Bill Moore.

“Technology is what the world is about right now,” said Moore. “What we have now barely skims the surface.”

But others argued for the gritty lessons learned on the field. “You need the basics of technology, but you also need the work ethic” taught in sports, said parent Jon Race.

Athletic director Mike Blair said his sons attended summer school to be eligible for fall football games. “I’m darn sure they wouldn’t be taking summer school if it weren’t for football,” said Blair.

Debbie Seagraves, the board member who missed the vote, wouldn’t tip her hand. But she joked that having a son on last year’s C-squad basketball team might give an indication.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BOARD MEETING The Deer Park School Board meets at 7 p.m. on July 17 at Deer Park Junior High. Call 276-5051 for information.