The shot clock may not have run out on potential ninth-grade
basketball student athletes at Morgan Hill School District middle
schools, at least for this year, after budget cuts of $12,000 to
the middle school extra-curricular budget eliminate boys and girls
teams.
The shot clock may not have run out on potential ninth-grade basketball student athletes at Morgan Hill School District middle schools, at least for this year, after budget cuts of $12,000 to the middle school extra-curricular budget eliminate boys and girls teams.
Live Oak High Boys Basketball Coach Brett Paolucci said he is optimistic.
“We are trying to do everything possible over here to save these programs,” he said. “It would definitely hurt my program next year, and Sobrato’s program, not to have a freshman team.”
Paolucci said he is having an informational meeting for parents interested in signing up their sons for the ninth grade team on Thursday at 6 p.m. in room 101 at LIve Oak. Details: 201-6100.
Girls Coach Richard Silva may have an informational meeting for the girls, Cummins said, but there is no date set at this time.
Britton Middle School Principal Jim McDonald said the teams have been a part of the middle schools since they were established. While other freshman sports were reinstated at Live Oak High, these teams were not a part of the package.
“Unfortunately, we are now living the reality of our budget,” McDonald said Monday. “The program (freshman basketball) has been a part of the middle school budget, instead of the high school budget like freshman football, and we were forced to cut our budget.”
McDonald said while he did not like the fact that the sport may not be available to students this year, the schools had suffered other cuts, such as counselor hours.
In September, the Live Oak Athletic Booster Club came to the rescue of eight sports, boys and girls varsity tennis, boys and girls varsity golf, varsity diving (co-ed), junior varsity wrestling (co-ed), freshman boys baseball and freshman girls volleyball, pledging $25,000 to fund these sports cut from the Live Oak budget.
Freshman basketball, boys and girls, was a part of the middle schools’ budgets, McDonald said, and though parents may understand the reason for the budget cuts, some are upset that other freshman sports were reinstated and not basketball.
“It is an essential program for the kids in the school,” said parent Joanna Plymale. “But the money’s not there. The boosters didn’t plan for this, and now they’re trying to figure it out. They (the school) have always had it (freshman basketball), why shouldn’t we have it now? Schools all around us have it. Why can Gilroy have it and we can’t?”
Plymale, who is new to Morgan Hill, said parents were not told by the school or the district that the freshman team was cut.
“There was no actual notification,” she said. “We heard there were tryouts for seventh and eighth grade teams, and then found out the ninth grade was cut. And now we’re running up against a deadline. If we want to save this team, somebody has to come up with some money. We need the parents and the businesses to work together.”
McDonald said the estimated cost of the programs is $6,000-$7,000.
Martin Murphy Middle School Principal Rhoda Wolfskehl said the problem is not just finding the money for the programs.
“It’s also the coaches,” she said. “At that level, we have to make sure we have a certificated person, not just walk-ons … also our chaperoning time is already assigned. We don’t have the money and we don’t have the time … But to my knowledge, the booster club is looking into helping out in that area. If the programs could be a part of the high school, they could still use the middle schools for practice and games.”
A solution is in the works, according to Live Oak High Athletic Director Mark Cummins.
“We’re in the process of trying to reinstate both these programs, both ninth grade boys and ninth grade girls,” Cummins said. “We’re working on figuring out the exact cost. We have had a pledge from Britton and not yet from Murphy. We’ve also had a pledge from Peninsula Sports Management, they’re the officials, and they pledged to waive the assigning fee, $400. There are a lot of folks willing to help.”
