|
Board should keep countywide teams as future goal
If money is truly the reason for the Jackson County Board of Education rejecting countywide middle school athletic teams, we accept that decision.
We would never want money for an athletic program, no matter how well spent, to be used to the detriment of academics. However, the way the matter was handled at last week’s school board meeting makes us wonder if money is the real reason or just a convenient excuse to keep the same system – five K-8 schools having teams for seventh- and eighth-graders in most sports.
Those most vocal about the funding problems didn’t discuss the merits of middle school teams and how they could potentially help the athletic program at Smoky Mountain High School or even acknowledge that countywide teams are a good opportunity that came up at an unfortunate time.
We appreciate the staunch support for countywide teams expressed by board member Mark Brooks.
Aside from what Brooks said, the most encouraging statement was when Chairman Ken Henke held out the possibility that this year’s invitation for Jackson County to join the Blue Ridge Conference could still be open next year. We hope that’s the case, and we hope the board and administrators will do their best to work to achieve that goal.
Another disappointment is that the results of a survey of students and parents from the county elementary schools weren’t discussed at the meeting. When we reviewed those results, we found support for countywide middle school teams to be in the range of 60 percent. If elected officials are going to conduct a survey, they need to listen to the results.
We took a close look at those results and found them to be very interesting. Of those expressing an opinion, 58.9 percent of students and 55.9 percent of parents supported countywide teams. Among those, there was overwhelming support for maintaining the school teams and adding a county team. That appeared to be the direction the issue was headed before it was shot down.
Taking a look at the Smoky Mountain High School District, support for countywide teams was 60.4 percent among students and 59.4 percent among parents.
Students from Cullowhee Valley (70.3), Fairview (67.2) and Smokey Mountain Elementary (71.2) all supported county teams. Parents from those schools supported county teams by similar percentages of 67.1, 62.2 and 65.5, respectively.
The results from Scotts Creek are totally different from the other three with 69.6 percent of students and 51.1 percent of parents wanting to keep the status quo.
Those numbers give credence to what we have long suspected – not all of our elementary schools are on the same page when it comes to what is best for Smoky Mountain High School. That’s an issue school administrators may need to address.
The reasons for having countywide teams have been discussed many times in the past so there’s no need to rehash them now.
Suffice it to say that Franklin, Tuscola, Swain and other schools Smoky Mountain plays will be doing all they reasonably can to field competitive athletic teams. Our student-athletes deserve the same opportunity from local school officials.
We hope this is a temporary setback and Jackson County middle school teams will be part of the Blue Ridge Conference as soon as possible.
|
