PORTLAND – The federal Office of Civil Rights is poised to review athletic programs at Portland and Deering high schools to determine whether girls and boys are treated equally, and the school district is unusually prepared for the visit.

Drummond Woodsum, the school district’s law firm, recently completed a Title IX athletic compliance audit that identified two significant problems:

• Girls’ teams have no locker rooms or showers where they play softball, at Payson Park, while boys’ teams use the facilities where they play baseball, at Hadlock Field, home of the Portland Sea Dogs.

• Many booster groups don’t provide complete or accurate financial reports to the school district, so it’s impossible to determine whether the thousands of dollars they raise is being spent fairly among boys’ and girls’ teams.

School officials are addressing both deficiencies so they don’t jeopardize millions of dollars in federal funding that Portland schools receive each year.

“Because we’ve already done the audit, I see this upcoming visit from (the Office of Civil Rights) as proactive rather than reactive,” said Superintendent Jim Morse.

Morse is scheduled to discuss the Title IX compliance review at Tuesday’s school board meeting, starting at 7 p.m. at Casco Bay High School.

The Office of Civil Rights notified Morse in a letter received Dec. 29 that it had selected Portland public schools for a compliance review. No complaint has been filed against the district, Morse said. Federal officials are expected to visit Portland within weeks.

The school board authorized the Title IX audit in April as part of an ongoing effort to review sports programs and possibly establish a foundation to support athletics outside the tax-funded budget.

Title IX is a 1972 federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in any educational program that receives federal funding. It is best known for its application to high school and college sports.

Drummond Woodsum’s 49-page report, delivered to district officials last week, says sports programs at Portland and Deering high schools largely comply with the anti-discrimination law.

The audit looked for equal treatment in a variety of areas, including equipment and facilities, game scheduling, coaches’ salaries, athletic training, sports medicine and publicity.

School officials have been aware of the two major compliance issues for several years, though there is no record of the Office of Civil Rights doing a Title IX review in Portland in the past, Morse said.

Drummond Woodsum’s report is the first time the problems and their potential impact on Title IX compliance have been stated so plainly, he said.

Morse, who became superintendent in July 2009, said he recognized the disparity between the softball and baseball programs last spring, when he learned that boys were bused to Hadlock Field and the girls had to walk several miles to Payson Park. He directed that the girls’ teams be bused as well and is working with city officials to have locker rooms built at Payson Park.

The district’s failure to keep track of booster groups and other organizations that raise money for school programs was noted in financial audits after a budget crisis in 2007. The school board approved a policy in 2006 that clarified the district’s control over booster groups to ensure compliance with state and federal laws, and required booster groups to submit complete financial information at the end of each season.

“The data provided to us established that the guidelines are not being followed,” according to Drummond Woodsum’s report. “Because of the lack of complete data, it is impossible to come to any accurate conclusions.”

Football, basketball, ice hock- ey, baseball, softball, soccer, field hockey and cheerleading boosters filed fundraising reports with the district. Based on 2009-10 reports, Portland High boosters raised $67,000 and Deering boosters raised $108,000.

Morse said the district has provided financial forms to booster groups to try to improve reporting. He also wants to have only one booster group at each high school, to ensure that funding is disbursed more fairly. That change was recommended in a recent consultant’s report on a proposal to form a sports foundation like the one that supports athletics in Boston schools.

“That will be controversial, no question about it,” Morse said. “But it’s no longer an issue that can be ignored.”

Sports boosters raise thousands of dollars for a variety of team needs, including uniforms, equipment, coaches’ salaries and gifts, league and tournament fees, referees’ fees, banquets, awards, scholarships, computer software, food, postage and ice time, according to Drummond Woodsum’s report.

Becky Doman, president of the Deering High football boosters, said she believes parents may be open to forming one booster group at each high school. Many boosters already share fundraising activities, and some parents are members of several booster groups.

She said a combined booster group must be well organized, and district officials must improve their communication with boosters. They also must remember that boosters are volunteers who help out when others won’t, despite their many other responsibilities.

“We’re not paid staff,” Doman said. “I’m not a CPA.”

Ultimately, Doman said, district officials must remember that parents join booster groups to support their kids.

“Some boosters are fearful of losing the intimacy and camaraderie of working together for a common goal,” Doman said. “It won’t work if they feel that they’re boostering for the district or for some bureaucrat.”

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:

kbouchard@pressherald.com

 

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