Written by By Nick Kosmider
Herald/Review
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, Aug 05, 2009 – 07:33:47 am MST
SIERRA VISTA — Athletes at Sierra Vista middle schools will have a chance to hit the field this year, after all.
The Sierra Vista Unified School District Governing Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to reinstate athletics into the district’s middle schools for the upcoming school year.
The vote followed an effort by the community organization Save Our Sports, which raised about $21,000 toward the restoration of the programs that had been scrapped in March due to a budget shortfall.
Lori Silk, who along with her husband, Jordan, has led the organization’s charge, said the group held dinner fundraisers at numerous restaurants during the past five months in an effort to come up with the necessary funds.
Among other fundraisers, the group also held a rummage sale at Apache Middle School that had “so many donations, the cafeteria was full,” she said.
Though the boosters fell short of their original $35,000 goal, Superintendent Brett Agenbroad said the district will use money it has from the Valley Schools Insurance Consortium to come up with the approximately $100,000 necessary to reinstate “all the sports the schools had last year.”
Lori Silk thanked the community for support in rallying to save the programs.
“The community response to this has been incredible,” she said, elated by the board’s vote. “I think it shows that our community can do what needs to do to make it happen.”
Jordan Silk agreed and added that the vote was a triumph for students who will be able to play sports this year.
“When we started pounding the pavement and going to talk to people, it was always about the kids. It was never about us as parents or anything like that. We had retired people giving us money; we had kids giving us money … it was incredible the wide scope of people who believed in what we were trying to do.”
The group’s effort, though, is far from over, Lori Silk said.
“We will be continuing to get money for the future so we are never in this predicament again,” she said.
Board members and Agenbroad also expressed strong gratitude to the community for it efforts.
“The city wants the sports, and they proved it with what they did,” board member Nancy Richardson said.
Added Agenbroad: “The Silks went out and put a nice, nice public face on this thing. … They rolled up their sleeves, and they went out and worked. I want to thank them and all the parent organizations.”
REPORTER Nick Kosmider can be reached at 515-4611.
