FERNDALE, Wash. — Officials with the Ferndale School District said this week “coaches and community supporters have agreed to help fundraise for high school freshman sports.” Freshman sports are commonly referred to as “C Team” sports.
After making the difficult decision to cut fall C Team sports because of a lack of funding, the Ferndale community and our coaching staff came up with a one-time solution to maintain these important sports for our students this fall.Ferndale School District announcement (June 22, 2020)
“Since Ferndale did not pass the school district’s replacement levy last February, the district has had to make cuts to staffing and programs, including C Teams.” Vincent said, “We have to cut costs. One of the ways that we have had to reduce costs is by cutting C Teams. We are grateful that our coaches and community have stepped up to help.”
Vincent was referring to a replacement Programs and Operations Levy that would replace the current 2016-2020 levy and begin in January 2021. But it failed to get voter approval on a February 2020 Special Election ballot and is expected to return in a different form on the November General Election ballot.
Click for more informationClick for more information“The levy runs on calendar years,” Vincent explained. “Our budgets run on school years. For the 2020-2021 school year, we are planning a budget based on the failure of our levy – which means that we have to plan for a reality that includes funding going away on January 1, 2021.”
The 2016-2020 levy provided for 13% of the District’s 2019-20 school year budget according to levy supporters.
Fall Ferndale High School freshman sports include football, volleyball and soccer. District Communications & Community Engagement Director Erin Vincent said in an email on Friday, June 26th that fall, winter and spring C Team sport coaches and their staff are volunteering their efforts to raise money.
When asked who in the community would also be fundraising, Vincent said, “The Booster Club and parents who have communicated directly with our Athletics Director and various coaches.”
As to how much needs to be raised, Vincent said, “Each sport is different as far as costs go, but the largest cost is absorbed in coaching stipends, travel and paying for officials.”
“The district is still determining protocols around fundraising,” the announcement said.
These days, it seems that so much of adult focus is on watching certain groups get paid ridiculous amounts of money to chase a ball around. Is this situation not a fine example of “the system” grooming our youth to grow up to be ball chaser watchers? The swamp in the issue is all the folks in the background that make a living off these watchers. I submit; “Each sport is different as far as costs go, but the largest cost is absorbed in coaching stipends, travel and paying for officials.” See? The largest expense is creating income for the in crowd.
Would not this time of cultural introspection and correction be a great time to rethink the whole team sports thing, and redirect our youth to more useful pastimes and skills?