PATRONAGE IN THE S-VE SPORTS PROGRAM
 I voted against the elimination of the sports programs from the school budget, and I am therefore pleased to see that the Booster Club and a new organization, the “Friends of SVE Athletes” are taking steps to fund school sports.  They have taken on the difficult task of collecting the needed funds to keep the sports program intact. Of that sum, about $95.000 is for coaching. The coaching costs are 70% of the total cost of the sports program. The youth organization has produced a great amount of experienced volunteer coaches.  If the coaching was done by volunteers for the school sports, the Friends of SVE Athletes would only have to collect about $50,000 for the referees, membership fees, and “supply and materials.”  (As this is written, in late August 2005, the collections have already surpassed that amount.)

   The coaches operate under the teacher’s labor contract. The coaching positions are, in my opinion, given mainly to teachers as patronage, as they are very lucrative. The teachers could, if they support sports, loosen up their control over coaching.   The ball is now in the teacher’s union’s court. The teachers could show, in this exceptional year, some goodwill and enable the entire sports program to operate with volunteer personnel. They would not be giving much away, because if there is no sports program, there are no coaching jobs for them to earn that extra pay.  That concession would also boost the willingness of donors to be more generous when they would know that their money goes directly to the athletes.