Written by MICHELLE MITCHELL • THE DESERT SUN • DECEMBER 8, 2009
Groups Ask District For Fundraising Or Pay-To-Play Option
Sports booster groups in the Palm Springs Unified School District want to bring back junior varsity teams and are calling on other parents for support.
“We just want to help,” said Josie Blandino, president of the Palm Springs High School Athletic Boosters. “We want all of our kids to play sports if that’s what they want to do.”
Palm Springs Unified eliminated JV teams in all sports starting this year in response to massive state budget cuts.
That left a freshman-sophomore level and a varsity level.
“If a junior’s not good enough to play varsity, they sit out a whole year,” Blandino said.
Blandino and other parents have spoken to the district board of education and suggested a fundraising effort by parents or a pay-to-play system.
“We need all parents to come to the board meeting” tonight, she said.
If parents from Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs join together, they’d be able to raise enough money to keep the teams going, she said.
The change to all sports at the district’s three high schools saved about $140,000.
Sports may be considered extras, but some say they’re the thing that keep students in school.
“My son, as long as he’s in football or a sport, he’s doing a lot better in school,” said Robin Huff, who helped start the sports boosters program at Desert Hot Springs High this year.
Still, the cost to keep a student in a sport is rising at a tough economic time, so asking for more is difficult, particularly in such a fledgling boosters program, she said.
As a short-term solution, the junior varsity team should replace the froshman-sophomore team, Blandino said, so juniors can play and freshmen who miss the mark their first year still have three more years.
Some school board members expressed appreciation that the parents were suggesting ways to help, but the district doesn’t have the money to help.
“Right now, anything we put back in, we’d have to let teachers go,” board member Richard Clapp said.
“We’re not going to do that as long as we can.”
The parents who plan to attend today’s board meeting are looking for direction and cooperation from the school board about sports but also for an apology.
The dialogue got heated between parents and board clerk Justin Blake, who spoke out against a boosters member who spoke on a radio talk show about the cuts to the sports program, calling the appearance slanderous, according to board meeting minutes.
Blake later said he regretted offending people and that his comments were too fierce, but he did not apologize for being defensive of the district, according to minutes.
“We’re looking for an apology” and will seek a recall without one, Blandino said.
Still, the availability of sports is the most pressing issue, she said. “Let’s move on,” she said.
Blake did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Michelle Mitchell covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach her at (760) 778-4642 or michelle.mitchell@thedesertsun.com
