Mules athletes will pay to playCoaches volunteer for pay cut

For five months, the Wahkiakum School Board has been searching for ways to offset a half million budget shortfall. From implementing a four-day school week to pay to play, many ideas surfaced. On May 20, the board made a final decision.

Beginning next year, students will pay to participate in extracurricular activities. The cost will be $55 for high school programs and $30 for middle school programs. No extracurricular programs were cut for the 2009-10 school year.

The pep band, annual, Honor Society, and Knowledge Bowl will be exempt from the fee. However, high school drama club members will pay the lower fee of $30 because the stipend of the drama advisor is in line with that of middle school coaches, Superintendent Bob Garrett said.

Coach Shelly Olsen reported after polling 25 of the district coaches, they agreed to take a 20 percent salary reduction for one year to help offset the district’s budget shortfall. She said 23 of the 25 supported the pay to participate

The decision, Olsen said, was a difficult one to make as many of the district’s coaches are also teachers and have suffered losses in salary due to reduction in force notices earlier this month. The coaches’ voluntary cut will save the district $20,570. The pay to participate program will generate $15,465.

She said the coaches realize many districts in the state have already implemented a pay to participate program in their districts or are considering similar programs.

“It is our desire to see as many students as possible be given the opportunities to participate in all extra curricular activities,” she said. “We feel the recommendations of the coaches' association will be enough to spread the difficult circumstances equally and still allow all extracurricular programs as a viable option for all Wahkiakum students.”

As a result of the coaches’ voluntary salary cut, Garrett has agreed to fulfill the responsibilities of the athletic director position for no pay. This will be a $3800 saving for the district.

Cathlamet resident Paul Schreiber commented he wholeheartedly believes sports are a part of kids’ education. It’s not extracurricular, he said, “it really is part of the school experience.” His concern with pay to participate is that some children would be turned away if they were unable to pay the fee.

Olsen told Schreiber that as a coach, she has paid for athletes’ shoes or other items they were unable to pay for. “There is no way any of our coaches would ever turn away a kid, no matter what,” she said, adding that even though teachers are already taking a 20 percent hit, they would take another if it meant a kid could participate.

Kassy Burdick, mother of two students attending JAW/JCT said there are many people in this community who don’t even have children who would be willing to help kids pay the new fees. Burdick said people have often asked her what they could do to help students with what they need.

Other district savings include:

--Julius A. Wendt Elementary/John C. Thomas Middle School Principal Theresa Libby will take a voluntary $2000 reduction in salary, and Wahkiakum Principal Loren Davis will take an $8000 reduction due to the restructure of his position from full time principal to part time principal and part time Alternative Learning Experience Program Director/Instructor.

--Wahkiakum teachers have three and a half days called supplemental days, in which students are not in class. These days are used to finish projects or accomplish administrative tasks. The teachers have agreed to give up two of those days, which will generate $18,600 to the district. Garrett said the district experienced a “true team effort” from everyone as they attempt to minimize program cuts as much as possible.

--The Wahkiakum Parent Teacher Organization has donated $3500 toward the operation of the Julia Butler Hansen Municipal Swimming Pool this September.

--The notion of a four day school week was taken off the books for now. Garrett said he believed a plan like that would take a lot more planning and community input before it could be implemented.