Caller 1: One article connected to the Live Oak-Sobrato saga is
to look into the inequalities of funding
– why students at Live Oak have to pay to be in sports while
Sobrato students don’t. I know for a fact that Live Oak’s JV
football players had to pay $250 last season, but Sobrato players
didn’t pay a penny, even for transportation – unless they collected
it at the end of the season, becau
se I talked to a football mom right before the last game, and
they still had not paid a penny. I understand how they have all new
uniforms and equipment because of start-up money, but who’s paying
their transportation costs?
Caller 1: One article connected to the Live Oak-Sobrato saga is to look into the inequalities of funding – why students at Live Oak have to pay to be in sports while Sobrato students don’t. I know for a fact that Live Oak’s JV football players had to pay $250 last season, but Sobrato players didn’t pay a penny, even for transportation – unless they collected it at the end of the season, because I talked to a football mom right before the last game, and they still had not paid a penny. I understand how they have all new uniforms and equipment because of start-up money, but who’s paying their transportation costs? I’m sure all the sports are in a similar position, and it just isn’t right to hit some kids up for money while others get a free ride. It also made me sick to read (Sobrato coach Jeff) Patterson’s article where he bragged about their state-of-the-art weight room. Have you seen Live Oak’s weight room? It is abysmal. It’s fine to have a two high school town when their facilities and financial output are equal, but that’s not the case here, and how much more does Live Oak’s Boosters Club have to raise to keep their sports afloat? It might make for an interesting article.
Green Phone: According to Sobrato Principal Rich Knapp, all Sobrato athletes – including football players – had to pay a $65 fee per sport to defray transportation costs. Why there was apparently such a large difference between the amount paid by athletes at the two schools is something we’re checking into. As far as the relative condition of the two schools’ weight rooms, a new school like Sobrato is bound to have newer facilities than and older one like Live Oak, despite a multi-million dollar facilities upgrade. Rest assured, we will be looking into the entire issue further in the near future.
