EDMONTON- Changes to the way athletics programs are run in Edmonton Public Schools have some parents concerned about the future of their children’s extracurricular sports leagues.
The change comes at the junior high level. Previously, one person was in charge of tasks like scheduling, lining up officials, recording scores and booking facilities. But due to budget cuts, that position has now been eliminated.
“I feel really concerned, sad. And then I get kind of angry,” said Michelle McIntyre, who has three children who are heavily involved in school sports; one of which will enter junior high next year.
School officials say a computer program, along with teachers and coaches, will now handle those responsibilities, and say athletics will not be affected.
“We’re hopeful,” said Jane Sterling, communications supervisor with Edmonton Public Schools. “We’re confident (our staff) will step forward and make sure that nothing will slip by and it’ll still be offered in the same way it has been in the past.”
But some aren’t as hopeful, worried the extra workload for teachers could mean athletics will suffer.
“After teaching this year at Mary Butterworth, I got a chance to see just the amount of work that these people do. They don’t get as much credit as they deserve. They work incredibly hard and to add more to their plate, I think, would be difficult,” said Andrew Parker.
Parker, a member of the Edmonton Energy professional basketball team, says sports were a huge part of his junior high experience, and says they play a fundamental role in a child’s life.
“It was huge for some of us kids. Some of our families, growing up in north Edmonton, sometimes we didn’t have parents involved, or you had the brother working or the father working, so a lot of these after-school programs, these basketball teams, these volleyball teams, they’re actually ways of raising us as kids,” he explained. “Conflict resolution, cooperation, leadership, these are the values that are taught at that young age so that when they graduate high school and move into, let’s say, the business world… they already have those skills.”
McIntyre agrees. She has seen the positive impact sports have had on her childrens’ lives, and says she may have to consider sending them to another school, if sports are impacted within the public school system.
“I look at the social network that was provided to both of my older sons by being part of a team; the confidence, the self-esteem that comes with being part of a team,” she said. “I feel so strongly (about) how important sports are for kids.”
With files from Dean Millard, Global News.
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