After hours of discussion, emotional testimonies from countless students, and record crowds at Cranston School Committee meetings, high school sports have been saved.
“On April 13, I will introduce a resolution at the NEL/CPS Board of Directors meeting to appropriate $88,241 to reinstate those sports that have been eliminated,” said Chairman Michael A. Traficante.
Sitting in the school administration building Thursday, Traficante said the arrangement is almost a done deal. After the board approves the decision, School Committee member Frank Lombardi will introduce the sister resolution at the committee’s April 27 meeting.
Looking on as the committee members discussed the arrangement, Superintendent Peter Nero summarized his reaction: “I’m thrilled.”
Traficante said the donation from NEL/CPS took shape in the last several weeks, with the support of Armand Sabitoni, the New England Regional Manager for the Labors’ International Union of North America.
“Because of the timing, we were very much concerned that the Rhode Island Interscholastic League is about to start creating schedules,” Lombardi said, noting that the green light from NEL/CPS came at the perfect time.
“It’s the best piece of news I’ve received in about five or six years,” agreed Mike Traficante, Cranston’s athletic director. “We’d be in a lot of trouble without it.”
The bulk donation will come from the NEL/CPS general fund balance for a one-time infusion of money. Paired with an existing donation of $5,000 from Veolia Water secured by committee member Andrea Iannazzi, the high school sports slated for elimination are saved. Those sports are tennis, indoor track and golf from both high schools and East’s junior varsity field hockey team.
The audit report performed as a result of the district’s Caruolo Act lawsuit demanded a 25 percent cut from the athletic budget, though, which totals $130,000.
The difference, approximately $37,000, means that freshmen sports will not be saved. The number of students affected drops from 457 to less than 100.
Although Mike Traficante said the worst is over for Cranston athletes this year, he believes not having freshmen sports will still put the city at a competitive disadvantage.
“We’re not going to lose the exceptional freshman athlete, what we will lose I’m afraid is the kid who’s not quite there yet,” he said. “We disassociate the kid from the program, but who knows how he’s going to develop in the next two years.”
Still, Mike Traficante was breathing a sigh of relief this week. He said the athletic department will have to start brainstorming right away what to do come the 2011-2012 school year when there’s no guarantee for a big-ticket donation.
“Donations and fundraising, while it’s much, much appreciated, it’s not the answer to what ails us,” he said.
The problem, he said, is much larger and has to do with the structure of the educational system in Rhode Island.
“What I’m really, really hoping will happen is the state funding formula,” he said of the proposal that could result in as much as $9.6 million more for Cranston schools. “I’m hanging my hat on that funding formula.”
Lombardi is hopeful that with or without such a boost, the community will rally to save sports in the future.
He will now act as a liaison between booster clubs or school groups and the administration.
“I want to be able to work arm in arm with parents,” he said. “We’re giving ourselves a reprieve for this year. Take a deep breath and let’s do this.”
The ability for schools to do fundraising is a new feature, thanks to a law passed in the summer of 2009 that was sponsored in the house by Cranston Representative Nicholas Mattiello and in the Senate by Cranston Senator Hanna Gallo. The Uniform School District Grant Gift and Donation Acceptance and Expenditure Act allows departments to accept donations like that of NEL/CPS.
School Committee members Stephanie Culhane and Janice Ruggieri will be introducing a fundraising resolution to clarify the ins and outs of this law, and how it applies to Cranston schools.
With more than a year to prepare, Chairman Traficante said he is confident that the community will rise to the occasion. Moreover, he thinks the budget process this year is starting a trend of more participation from parents, students and Cranston residents.
“We’re hoping it does start an initiative that parents and kids are going to be involved,” he said. “And then hopefully in better times, three or four years down the road, things will be better in Rhode Island.”
