Three JC Trainers Will Lose Positions

Ross Snyder isn’t slow to criticize his employer.

“What are they going to do? Fire me?” he said.

They already have.

Snyder, the athletic teams’ trainer at Pierce College, is one of 47 Los Angeles Community College District employees who will lose their jobs Jan. 1 under budget cuts implemented by the board of trustees Wednesday.

The elimination of the non-teaching positions will cut $600,000 from the $216-million budget, according to district spokesman Norm Schneider.

Three of the 47 positions eliminated belong to athletic trainers at Pierce, Valley and West Los Angeles colleges.

“The people down at the district office can’t see the forest for the trees,” Snyder said. “They can’t see what programs make them money. You ask them what time it is and they’ll tell you how the watch is made.”

The district was following through on proposals voiced when it adopted the budget Sept. 4.

“When the board passed the budget, they indicated they would lay off approximately 50 classified employees to balance the budget,” Schneider said. “This specific action was necessary to implement that budget proposal.”

The elimination of the athletic trainer positions, of which there were three in the nine-college district, still came as a surprise to the athletic directors at Pierce and Valley.

Pierce’s Bob O’Connor didn’t know he had lost his athletic trainer until he answered a reporter’s phone call.

“Tell me what you know,” he said.

Valley’s George Goff was more outspoken.

“The did it very sneaky,” he said. “I only found out about this the day before the meeting. If I would have found out in advance, I would have had 20 people there to support our position.”

There were only nine minutes of public testimony in defense of the athletic trainers, Goff said. But the district denied that it tried to underplay the matter.

“To claim that it came as a total surprise is difficult to relate to,” Schneider said. “The budget has been built on a priority basis for a couple of years now, and those positions have been a lower priority as far as the staff is concerned.

“Early last month, when the board passed the budget, they said some positions at that level would be cut. So they may not have known that the board was going to take this technical action last night, but the fact that these people have been at risk is something that has been universally known for a couple of years now.”

The trainers will be replaced by part-time employees, Schneider said.

Monroe Richman, president of the board of trustees, defended the elimination of the positions.

“The board felt that it was a move that, while not the best, is nevertheless appropriate within the climate that we now function,” he said.

Richman added: “It’s only fair to state that we have only three athletic trainers at the nine schools. While we would like to give support to the entire concept, given our restricted finances, it’s a luxury we can ill afford.

“But I realize somebody is going to make me eat my words when I say that.”

There were several people standing in line to try to do just that Thursday.

O’Connor charged that the district’s priorities are mistaken.

“You would think that the district wouldn’t cut things that make money, and they have shown by their own statistics that athletics makes money,” he said.

“I think our problem is too much administration. The budget for downtown is more than $13 million, and that’s larger than the budgets at four of the schools in the district.”

Goff was more direct.

“This is a stab in the back,” he said. “We were involved for weeks trying to justify our programs, and when we did that, they said, ‘Play ball.’ Now they’re going to attack every part of my budget.

“This is wrong. It’s enough to make you want to throw your hands up and forget about everything.”

Snyder, the trainer at Pierce, said he isn’t as disappointed with losing his job as he is with the kind of replacement he foresees.

“They’re never going to get somebody with my experience and training,” he said. “They are going to hire somebody to come in here part-time. Maybe a kid from some college program or something like that.

“I guess the district isn’t too worried about kids that get hurt.”

Goff agreed, questioning the district’s insurance coverage in the event of a training-related injury.

“They are opening themselves up to a liability suit that would pay for a lot of trainers for 100 years,” he said. “It’s amazing to me.”

But the district will be covered for injuries under its present medical policy, according to Schneider, who consulted insurance agents after Goff and O’Connor questioned the district’s liability in potential negligence suits.

“There won’t be any problem in that regard,” Schneider said. “It’s not like we’re going to let them play without equipment or safety precautions.

“Other colleges that have no trainer position manage with the coaching staff to accommodate whatever training a person needs.”

The athletic departments argue that the medical care simply won’t be as good.

Snyder, who has been an athletic trainer for 10 years, has been at Pierce since 1979 and he has a master’s degree and a teaching credential.

“I’m not going to lose a lot of sleep wondering where I’ll get a job,” he said.

At Valley College, Mike Norris faces the same predicament. Norris, in his fifth year as trainer, believes that students will be affected also.

“The students are getting short-changed,” Norris said. “They’re going to end up getting a lesser degree of care.

“We just got a new sports training room and we had just started a great sports medicine program--and now this.”

With Norris absent from campus, athletes may lose the care of different kind.

“We have a group of orthopedic surgeons--some paid, some volunteer--who have helped a lot of the athletes,” Norris said. “Now, I’m afraid the athletes won’t have the same communications with the surgeons, largely because I solicit their help.”

Norris voiced a concern similar to Snyder’s.

“Knowing the district, it’s going to be quite some time before they get somebody to take my place,” he said. “I’ve got to wonder about the quality of the (replacement). I’ll be leaving when the athletic program is in full swing and, knowing how they work, I can’t foresee them getting anyone right away.”