Board reviews district’s athletic programs

CLINTONVILLE – With an operational referendum looming on the ballot in the spring election, the Clintonville Board of Education held a discussion at its Jan. 26 meeting to discuss a path for the district if the referendum is not passed by voters and the district needs to make cuts to its budget.
One of the areas where cuts could be made would be to the district’s athletics programs. Results of the community survey that district residents filled out regarding an operational referendum indicated that making cuts to the district’s athletics programs should be the first area that financial cuts are made. Because of that, Clintonville Superintendent Troy Kuhn asked the board for direction, should cuts be needed.
“Do we look at forming more co-ops? Do we look at the opportunities versus costs? You know, this is one of those things that we can either do directions and it’s strictly about money, or we also look at opportunities,” Kuhn told the board.
Board members were presented with a list of all the district’s sports that students can participate in and the cost to the district for each sport. Kuhn told the board that high school students pay a fee to participate in sports, while middle school students do not pay a fee.
When considering adding or removing a sport for students, Kuhn advised the board to be equitable between boys and girls sports.

“What we do for one (gender), we should technically do for the other (gender),” Kuhn said.
Kuhn added that the total athletic budget for the district is around $275,000.
Board Clerk Klint Barkow said he had a different opinion about the survey results. He said he thought the results indicated that residents did not want to see cuts to athletic, but rather they did not want to see new referendum funds spent on an athletic complex.
Board Treasurer Jason Moder said the district needs to look at the finances for athletics the same way it looks at the finances for other areas of the district.
Board member Christopher Hoffmann said if the board is going to make a decision to make cuts to athletics spending, then he wanted more information.
“I’d also like to hear from the WIAA, the Better Business Bureau, even college admissions, to come in and tell me why athletics should not be deemed an important part to help better the children,” Hoffmann said. “Because I think that should be included before we make any wholesale decisions.”
Board member Ben Huber said there are a lot of students who come to school or pass their classes only because they are on an athletic team.
“Taking athletics out of the school would, in my opinion, be a very, very bad thing for the district and the students of this district,” Huber said. “It provides a sense of community pride when people can go to a football game or go to a basketball game or go to a soccer game, any of these things. And it really helps the students learn lots of different lessons that are not included in your daily rounds at a school.”
He added that he does not think the district needs to make cuts to its athletics programs.
“Always do things budget-wise within reason, absolutely, but I don’t think we have to cut anywhere, and I don’t think we should,” Huber said.
Kuhn said that if the district adds tennis as a sport, the district’s tennis courts will need to be redone, which will be a big expense.
Board President Glen Drew Lundt said maybe somebody would want to sponsor redoing the tennis courts.
Kuhn said he thought it was a good board discussion, but said if the operational referendum does not pass, the district will need to revisit this topic.
“At this point, we need to educate and say, ‘We’re not doing a turf football field. We’re not doing an athletic complex, we are going to work within the means of what we currently have and make the best of it,’” Kuhn said.