Vocational HS Athletics Possibly Going Away in Conn. Due To Budget Shortfalls

July 18, 2011 /
RegisterCitizen.com, Dan Podheiser

http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2011/07/16/news/doc4e21dfd3079d3997024109.txt?viewmode=fullstory

TORRINGTON — Oliver Wolcott Tech’s athletic program was supposed to leave the Berkshire League in the fall for greener pastures in the more friendly Constitution State Conference. Now, it looks like the Wildcats won’t play at all.

Gov. Dannel Malloy’s new budget plan, which includes the layoffs of about 6,560 state employees and the closing of four courthouses and a juvenile detention center (full plan here in PDF form), will eliminate all vocational technical high school athletics in the state for the next two years if passed by the state legislature.

CIAC associate executive director Paul Hoey said he heard of the possibility Friday, but hadn’t been notified of anything official.

“This is new territory,” Hoey said. “It’s a unique situation. Our goal is to get as many kids to play high school sports as possible.”

Patricia Ciccone, superintendant of the Connecticut Technical High School system, said the decision to make sweeping cuts in sports was just one of many ways that the state, and specifically the education system, had to deal with the impending budget cuts.

“As an effort to meet these numbers and to continue to meet a viable option of education for our nearly 11,000 students, reductions had to come from somewhere,” Ciccone said in a phone interview Friday.

Ciccone said cutting sports at vo-tech schools for two years will shave about $3 million off the state budget. She stated that “sports are an intricate part of a student’s high school experience,” but it’s importance is not necessarily right at the top of the list.

“We can’t cut mandated programs, graduation requirements or our trade technologies,” she noted. “Our primary mission is to prepare the workforce for Connecticut.”

Ciccone also pointed out that athletic co-ops with other schools over the next two years will not be feasible, because there are still costs involved.

“When [vo-tech schools] co-op with other schools, we have to have a share in what is required to operate that co-op,” she said. “For instance, they might provide the facilities, but we have to pay for the coaches, or vice versa.”

That said, Wolcott Tech students — and all technical school students in the state, for that matter — can play sports for their hometown public high schools if they make the team.

Wolcott Tech students who live in Torrington, for instance, can try out for the Red Raiders at Torrington High School.

“It’s going to create a mess, for sure,” said Wolcott Tech Athletic Director Raymond Tanguay. “We’re definitely going to have to figure something out [for our student-athletes], somehow.”

Tom Serra, a former principal and athletic director at Vinal Tech in Middletown — another vo-tech school in the CSC — was appalled at the notion that a public school would lose all of its athletic funding.

“To cultivate a student, you need all the activities,” said Serra. “Sports are where you get the interpersonal skills of competition, of learning about losing and winning and teamwork, and the whole philosophy of athletics.”

Serra said the technical school system’s commitment to keep the core components of the its academic offerings won’t help if kids are turned off by the idea of no sports.

“[When I was at Vinal Tech,] a lot of kids came here because they knew they could play sports in addition to focusing on a technical skill,” Serra noted. “If this has a detrimental effect on the enrollment, this will have a detrimental effect on the economy.”

Wolcott Tech had six sports lined up for the fall with full schedules listed on the CIAC’s website.

“It’s very disappointing for a lot of people, ranging from student-athletes to the coaches who put so much time into it,” CSC Commissioner Robert McNamara said. “Everyone is saddened by this. We understand the severity of the budget cuts and aren’t critical of anyone. It’s just a sad day. I hope the kids have the opportunity sooner than later to have sports reinstated.”


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