To the editor:

As an alumna, physical educator and parent at Woolwich Central School, I need to encourage other parents and community members of our town to speak out against the proposed cut of one of our two sports programs.

Last year in budget cuts, both our soccer and basketball programs were downsized from two teams each (A and B) for boys and girls to one sixth to eighth grade team each.

Now the RSU 1 school board is proposing yet another cut to our Woolwich programs by eliminating soccer all together, while not touching any other sports programs in our district.

How much is this cut? $5,000.

This is truly a “drop in the bucket” of the almost $26 million total RSU 1 budget and I cannot believe our school board cannot find some other area to make a cut that will not directly impact students. For a K-8 school, this soccer program is an incredible asset to our students, not only for the almost 40 students who play, but our younger students as well.

The younger students watch the players dress up for game day or conduct themselves on the playing field with “determination, dignity and teamwork.” They applaud them during assemblies for being awarded the sportsmanship trophy the last two years in a row.

Each time our Woolwich student athletes play, they have incredible support from our staff, parents, grandparents and other community members because they always represent our town with pride.

Woolwich sports teams have also played very competitively over the past decade winning league championships for soccer (boys in 2004, 2008 and girls in 2005, 2006 and 2007) and basketball (boys in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2009) and girls (2006, 2012) while playing quality teams like Richmond, Great Salt Bay and Vinalhaven.

There are many other factors that weigh in. We have always lined and maintained our own soccer fields. This would continue.

The RSU pays the Bath Recreation Department about $112,000 a year to maintain fields for all the other sports teams in our district.

We have finally built a regulation sized field, for which our town has waited almost 12 years. This proposed cut will not even allow our players to play on it.

All WCS student athletes play in every game. Our philosophy for our middle school teams is that if a player practices for two hours each day, he or she should get a chance to play in all the games. We also believe our students are still developing their bodies, skills, love and understanding of the game to see if they want to continue on in high school and that our sports programs are a vital part of their positive middle school experience.

Many students from other towns in our district have “chosen” this experience in the past few years over playing for the larger school teams. Woolwich programs also have always found a spot for every student who wants to play.

Unfortunately, this past year, much to our dismay, our coaches have had to make cuts because our B teams and “coed” teams were dissolved in the interest of saving money for the whole district.

If you are an alumni, parent or resident in Woolwich or any other town and hope to send your student to our K-8 school in the future, please speak out to your RSU 1 school board members about the impact this cut makes to our school and community.

Beth Sullivan Harrington,
Woolwich

[email protected]