Is Warwick’s Threat to Cut School Sports Real? Interscholastic League “Not Changing Schedules”
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
It is like a right of passage each spring -- school committees threatening to cut sports while they fight with town and city councils over budgets.
The Warwick School School Committee on Tuesday voted to cut after-school sports to meet budget constraints -- and Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) Executive Director Tom Mezzanotte spoke with GoLocalProv.com to which towns in Rhode Island have cut sports before -- and who just threatened.
"Coventry did it before, it was before my time [at RIIL]. They cut sports for one or two years, and it was devastating. I think it was in the ‘80s," said Mezzanotte. "We’ve had communities threaten it with budget concerns before. I know Woonsocket did it the past— and they had contemplated, but not followed through."
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"Every district — when they say cuts, cuts are every line item, unless it’s contractually obligated," said Mezzanotte. "Teachers salaries and benefits are contract-decided, and they’re in the budget. Everything else is not. So all of those other things are they can cut, athletics is one."
"We’re sorry to see Warwick voted that way. I'll say right now, we're not changing any of our schedules. I’m not revising every fall, winter, and spring schedule for next year," said Mezzanotte. "So what should we do? We haven’t put a lot into this, but we’re not going to realign the whole state — right now the team [that would play a Warwick school] would just have a bye."
"I shook my head [when I heard the news]. It's a serious matter. My kids went to Warwick public schools, and I feel badly," said Mezzanotte. "I know the Superintendent, I know the principals. It’s a tough thing to come in the next day and say we may not have sports."
Options for Athletes if Cuts Go Through?
"So what do you do — do you practice during the summer? Do families start looking at another school? I feel badly for kids, parents, the community — who wants to attend a school whiteout sports?" said Mezzanotte. "I don’t look at threats, I look at reality, and there's only a certain amount of money and decisions to be made."
"We got a call this morning [about what do students do] — someone said they called the city council and they referred them to us. The city council said we allow [students] to play in other communities," said Mezzanotte. "Where you attend school is where you attend school."
"The only time is if there is a co-op. We have many co-ops — girls hockey, for instance, there are a few," said Mezzanotte. "But as to who makes that decision, there's a process. Schools have to go to the Superintendent and school committee. They have to approve that -- it has to be two or three schools — and then it comes to us."
"Then when it comes to us, we're looking at the numbers from the previous years," said Mezzanotte. "In other words — we don’t want schools saying I’ve got 50 kids [for a sport] but I don’t want to pay so I want to do a co-op. There is a certain number we can’t exceed."
