Proposal Calls for Dropping of 5 Sports in City Conference

A preliminary budget proposal that would eliminate five sports from the 15 public schools of the City Conference will be presented to the San Diego Unified School District Board Tuesday.

Water polo, boys’ and girls’ swimming, field hockey and golf are part of $200,000 in recommended cuts by the Senior High School Principals Athletic Council.

Also among the council’s recommendations are the combining of boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams under one coach, the elimination of junior varsity boys’ track, reducing the number of track coaches from four to three, and reducing each school’s athletic budget by $1,091.

On Tuesday, the board will review the proposal,said Wayne DeBate, the school district’s secondary athletic manager. He said the next step would probably be holding public hearings at the board’s March 3 meeting.

“The Tuesday after that (March 10) they should, according to schedule, take some action,” DeBate said. “Conceivably, they could take a vote on it.”

The cuts would save the district the following amounts: elimination of water polo, $18,185; boys’ and girls’ swimming, $35,112 each; field hockey, $13,555; golf, $16,198; combining cross-country under one coach, $14,610; eliminating boys’ junior varsity track and one coaching position, $21,915; reducing the extended day units of soccer coaches by one-half unit, $7,049, and eliminating the intramural program, $21,900. The $1,091 budget reduction by each school would net an additional $16,364.

The cuts would bring the preliminary budget, submitted Jan. 21, from $1,260,661 to $1,060,661.

The City Conference includes the 3-A Eastern League and the 2-A Western and Central leagues. Schools affected by the proposal in the Eastern League: Patrick Henry, Madison, Mira Mesa, Morse, Point Loma and Serra; in the Western League: Clairemont, Kearny, La Jolla, Mission Bay and University City; in the Central League: Crawford, Hoover, Lincoln and San Diego.

“We saw the writing on the wall when they eliminated some reading programs,” said Tom Williams, boys’ basketball coach and athletic director at Serra. “Anytime they start eliminating some of the academics, you know they are not gong to sit back and let athletics stay. They are just going to cut right across the board.”

In 1982, the City Conference cut water polo, girls’ and boys’ swimming and junior varsity programs in those sports as well as field hockey and boys’ and girls’ soccer.

Swimming and water polo, however, were kept active after a community booster group raised $30,000--which was matched by the district--to pay for pool rental. No city schools have their own pools. The district took over full funding of the programs in 1985, according to DeBate.

This time, however, DeBate said he doesn’t think there will be any booster clubs to the rescue.

“We’ve never had to make cuts like this,” DeBate said. “I mean this is bad news. The last time we cut athletics, we cut $60,000 or $70,000. We’re talking about cutting three times as much (now).”

Asked if individual schools could raise their own money for sports, DeBate said: “That’s an issue that has not been addressed.

“In the past, the board has not accepted that posture,” he said. “They felt that if a sport couldn’t be offered to all schools, then they wouldn’t support it. But I don’t know. That’s going to be an interesting part of this.”

When the booster club raised funds for aquatics in 1982, the money went into one fund and was evenly distributed to all schools in the district that offered the sports.

“Obviously, schools in certain parts of town came up with more money than others,” DeBate said. “A proposal like that may have more of a chance than a La Jolla saying, ‘We want golf, and so we will raise the money to have the sport at our school.’ ”

Dick Draz, water polo and swimming coach at San Diego Mesa Community College, was an instrumental part of the fund-raising efforts in 1982. Draz coached Crawford to San Diego Section water polo titles twice and boys’ swimming championships five times.

“It’s disappointing to see them go,” Draz said. “I just hope the parents work hard to save it. We worked hard; we kept it; we saved it. About 500 to 600 athletes got to participate.

“The parents have got to do it,” he said. “It was hard, but I think that if they want it bad enough, they can do it. But they have to raise a lot of money.”

Laurie Berger has coached field hockey the past two seasons at Serra, and her teams had won seven straight section championships until this year. She said raising money is not an attractive alternative.

“The thought (of raising money) has crossed my mind, but its the kind of thing that just doesn’t seem fair,” she said.

“It’s (the cuts) probably going to destroy the whole hockey program, not just in the City (Conference), but the CIF,” Berger said. Fifteen schools offer field hockey in the county, including five from the City Conference.

Berger said she is rounding up some support from players and parents and plans on presenting a plea to save the sport at Tuesday’s board meeting.

City Conference schools have won 31 San Diego Section championships and have finished as the runner-up 25 times in the sports considered for elimination.