Pius X Principal Cuts Minor Sports to Save Money : Education: Michael Parmer blamed a drop in enrollment of almost 25% for his actions. Two coaches also lost their jobs.

A Catholic high school has fired two coaches and cut a number of sports programs in response to a nearly 25% decline in enrollment.

Pius X High School Principal Michael Parmer angered parents, students and coaches by eliminating most of the school’s minor sports programs, including the cross-country team, which has risen from last place in 1988-89 to No. 2 in the league last year. Volleyball, golf and girls’ soccer have also been dropped.

Parmer, who became principal July 1, said budget problems also forced the elimination of journalism and yearbook classes. They will become after-school activities, but no other academic programs will suffer, he said.

Parmer said he had first refused to meet with parents but admitted about 40 of them, including the two fired coaches, when they arrived at his office on Monday. They demanded to know why he canceled cross-country.

“I spoke to them for more than an hour. I explained the budget problems,” he said. “It’s a hard pill for them to swallow. I understand that. It’s hard for us too.”

Ray J. Cordova, the father of one of the cross-country runners, said Parmer “did the best he could” trying to explain the problem to the parents. But Parmer began yelling at one of the coaches, and Cordova said he became discouraged and left the meeting.

“(Parmer) refused to deal with us with the coach there,” Cordova said. “The parents support the coach, so we walked out.”

Parmer told the parents he would call police if the coaches refused to leave the meeting voluntarily. The coaches left and the meeting continued with a small number of parents, according to Luz Maria Gonzalez of Compton, who has two sons on the cross-country team.

She said four of her children have graduated from Pius. “I really don’t want to leave the school. They have a really good academic program. We wanted to help keep (cross-country). But they don’t want our help.”

The parents proposed raising funds for the cross-country team. But Parmer said that because cross-country is just one of the sports being cut, league rules prohibit him from authorizing fund-raising for a single program.

Parmer refused to discuss why he dismissed coaches Salvador Perez and Ted Arnold.

“He gave us no reason,” Perez said. “He asked us to turn in our keys and that was it.” Perez and Arnold have accepted coaching jobs at other schools.

Before the meeting with Parmer, Gonzalez said school officials had also ignored requests for a refund of the $200 registration fee to those parents who want to change schools. She said Parmer told her he would consider returning the money.

“If that’s the just and right thing to do,” Parmer said, “I’ll do it.”

Parmer blamed the recession for the decline in enrollment from 750 students to 570. No such problem exists at St. John Bosco High School, an independent Catholic school in nearby Bellflower, where enrollment has remained steady at about 870, Registrar Dona Privitt said.

“We’re still analyzing (Pius) to see what the problem is,” said Bill Rivera, public information officer with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. “Other schools aren’t having as significant a drop-off.”

Pius X “serves an area more economically depressed than the rest of the city,” Rivera said. “That could be the reason. We’re still looking into it.”

Tuition at Pius X is $2,100 per year, while St. John Bosco charges $3,400 for tuition.

Gonzalez, who said she had no idea the school was so bad off financially, wonders why officials waited until the middle of the summer to cancel the sports programs, because the team had been practicing every day.

“The children have been working so hard, practicing since June, getting up at 6:30 in the morning to run. They really wanted to go to the state championships,” she said. “The school has left them out on a limb.”