Petition Calls for Restoration of Sports Cut in Clarkstown School Budget

While there will be fewer Clarkstown Central School District school sports teams when the seasons kick off in the fall, it's looking like there's going to be a lot more discussions about the district's sports programs than usual.

Back in May, the public overwhelmingly approved the district's new budget, which brought with it cuts to athletic programs to save money. With the start of school sports coming up in about a month, parents are becoming increasingly vocal about their displeasure with the cuts.

A few parents in the district went to a school board meeting on July 15 to voice their concerns over the cuts, and on Friday a petition started circling in the district to help parents show their discontent with the new athletic layout in the school district.

"I had heard a while back rumblings about this, but I didn't want to believe it would actually happen. I got the idea [for the petition] early [Friday] morning when I woke up," said Sandra Weaver of New City, who started the petition. "This issue just touched me so deeply. I really feel like I wouldn't have any self respect if I didn't at least get people talking about. It's just a huge, huge mistake."

The petition reads: "Petition to stop the cuts to the sports programs announced by the Clarkstown Central School District. We the undersigned believe in the importance of student athletics."

With the budget cuts, there will be no freshmen teams at either of the high schools, the Clarkstown High School North and South hockey teams will be combined into one, some assistant coaches won't continue to receive pay and multiple teams within one sport at Felix V. Festa Middle School will be condensed to just one team for each sport.

Weaver, along with about 30 people, started bringing the petition around town to get signatures.  She said right now, she has two goals for the petition: to get people talking, and to show the school board how strongly the parents feel about the athletic cuts. So far, she said the response has been positive.

"Everybody agrees that the taxes are too high, and nobody wants taxes to be higher, but this is the wrong area to be cut," Weaver said.

Kenneth Murphy, one of the volunteers trying to get people to sign the petition, also didn't think sports should be an area for cuts.

"The district might be a little top heavy with administrators, people that don't have any contact with the kids," he said. "They go way overboard with electronic devices. I think kids can learn without them. It's stuff that just looks impressive in the classroom."

Murphy has four children, two who are in college, one at North and one in New City Elementary. He said the three oldest have all played school sports, and Sarah, his daughter who is entering her freshman year at North, was planning on playing freshman soccer.

"She will go out for JV, but if you're not a superstar, your chances really go down," he said.

Another person getting signatures for the petition is Danny Samimi, one of Sandra Weaver's two children. Danny graduated from North in 2009, where he played varsity soccer for three years and JV baseball for two. He also said pretty much everyone he knew played school sports, and it was a place not only to compete athletically, but form friendships, which was a big reason he wanted to help out.

"People need to be aware of what's going on," he said. "Sports are a big thing in people's lives. It keeps people active instead of just sitting around watching TV or doing worse things, like drugs or alcohol."

Getting kids out of house and doing physical things was a big topic of conversation for Sandra Weaver, as well.

"Are we taking a stand on the right side of [childhood obesity] by cutting school sports? I don't think so," Weaver said. "A kid that stays after school and plays a sport is hanging out with other kids, forming a bond and getting a sense of community. Instead, you're sending that kid on the bus back to his house."

Murphy also mentioned how the community could be affected by the cuts.

"The whole community benefits from non-idle kids," he said.

Weaver agreed this could be a negative thing for the school district.

"Clarkstown is a well-regarded school district, and people move into the area because of the schools," she said. "If they are going to start making these poor decisions, it's going to become a second-rate school district."

She also spoke about how these cuts could possibly hurt children who come from low-income homes.

"Not everyone can afford to play for traveling teams or club teams," Weaver said. "You have kids that want to play a sport, and it means everything to them, but they're economically disadvantaged."

 Weaver not only brought the petition around to try and get people to sign, but left some in businesses around town, such as Duke of Oil on Main Street. At around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, the petition had nine signatures, although one was crossed out because the person wrote, "My taxes are too high already." The petition was on the front counter underneath a propped up sign that read "Please read. Very important."

On Tuesday, the school board, along with school principals and athletic directors, will hold a workshop to discuss the athletic plans. It starts at 5:30 p.m. in the main board room of the district office at 62 Old Middletown Rd. in New City.

The workshop was proposed by School Board member Keving Grogan of West Nyack and supported by new board member Robert Carlucci of New City. School Board President Phillip DeGaetano of New City said Tuesday's discussion will go over plans for school sports, but he said it's unlikely the district will restore programs that have been cut.

DeGaetano said the cuts were made clear during the budget process, with the district's spending plan overwhelmingly approved by voters. Additionally, DeGaetano noted that if sports programs were restored, other programs in the district would have to be cut.

Weaver said she's not sure yet if she'll be able to make the workshop, but if not, she does have one piece of advice for the board members.

"If the people in the school district don't understand how important it is to be on varsity sports for these kids, they should go outside on Aug. 23, two weeks before school starts, and see kids trying out in 90 degree heat for the fall sports," Weaver said. "They're out there in the heat, some sports do two practices a day. While others are still on vacation, these kids give up part of their summer to play for school teams."