Proposed Cuts in San Diego School Athletics Protested

As principal at San Diego High for the past 10 years, Bob Amparan has not lost sight of students like Ed Barnsley, Garth Humphrey and David Campbell.

Never mind that they are students at Mira Mesa; Amparan displays a genuine concern for all kids. And on this day, their plight was similar, anyway.

Armed with their presence and a few homemade signs, Barnsley, Humphrey and Campbell, swimmers and water polo players at Mira Mesa, came to Tuesday’s meeting of the San Diego city schools board of trustees to let board members know how they felt about its proposed plan to cut high school aquatics, golf and soccer in an effort to save $200,000.

The proposed athletic cuts are only a fraction of the overall $20.8 million budget reduction plan submitted by Supt. Tom Payzant on Monday.

“This will show them we’re not going to die. We’re going to fight,” said Barnsley, among the dozens of students who joined the protest.

Amparan, meanwhile, came to observe. He wound up doing much more.

“I’m sitting here as a listener for the other senior principals,” Amparan said. “Some of them couldn’t be here so I’ll report to them what took place. I can tell you this; none of us want to make cuts.”

His reaction?

“Sadness.”

“We would all lose if interscholastic athletics were diminished,” he added.

Barnsley agreed: “(Mayor) Maureen O’Connor wants to bring new industries to San Diego. Well, what industry is going to want to come a city like this.”

Amparan feels even $1 cut from student programs is too much. And he was one of the few who attended Tuesday’s meeting to suggest an alternate proposal.

“I’m not just sitting here bellyaching,” Amparan said. “I understand these are real budget concerns. I fully realize these are real crunch times, and everybody has to take their fair share.”

But Amparan feels rather than cutting $13.7 million from student programs, teachers and administrators could take a 3% salary reduction instead of a 1% rollback as outlined in Payzant’s plan.

“Triple the (salary) reduction and we could save nearly $13 million right there,” he said.

Precisely, it would save $12,643,470, using the school board’s figures.

“I understand that would not make me very popular among my peers,” Amparan said. “But as an administrator, I would rather protect jobs and programs. . . . It would hurt, but we could do it with some sort of promise or commitment that one, two, three years down the line, when the state is on better ground, those salaries would be restored in full (or beyond).

“We are one part of a downward spiral. People are out of work. These are tough times. It just compounds it, when you don’t have quality schools.”

Something must be done in terms of saving athletics, insisted Amparan, who stands to lose one of the county’s top soccer programs.

“Like all schools, there are certain sports that they excel in,” he said. “At San Diego, that happens to be soccer, and it happens to be as popular as (football, basketball and baseball). . . . Sports can be a common goal to rally around, and that builds camaraderie and self esteem. We don’t give sports significant credit for the positive affect it has around campus. . . . The greatest thing I see when kids play sports is they compete together toward a common goal. That’s a life lesson.”

And when does it end?

“This year’s it’s aquatics, golf and soccer,” Amparan said. “Next year, who knows? Volleyball? Badminton? Eventually, we’re going to get down to the basics, basketball, football and baseball.”

That would be a shame, said Mira Mesa’s Humphrey, a promising young swimmer: “I tried out for football. I tried out for basketball. I got cut. In those sports, hey, I’m like a fish out of water.”

FIGHTING THE AX: Dozens of speakers protesting $21.8 million in proposed salary and student program cuts tugged at the heartstrings of San Diego city schools trustees Tuesday night but offered few if any alternative solutions to the district’s budget dilemma. B3