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In Fairfax County, Two Sports in Jeopardy
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In 1992, Fairfax proposed cutting swimming and diving, which prompted such a furious, well-organized "Save Our Sport" outcry that the program was restored to the budget. Boys' gymnastics and freshman cheerleading also were among proposed cuts that year, but they, too, were spared.
Nationally, the school board in Mount Vernon, N.Y., last summer eliminated funding for its high school sports after voters twice rejected a proposed budget; however, because of donations to a "Save Our Sports" initiative -- including a reported $100,000 from former resident and actor Denzel Washington -- sports have survived in Mount Vernon, for now.
In March, nearly 1,000 students at Encinal High School in Alameda, Calif., staged a walkout, leaving their classrooms and marching two miles to the superintendent's office in protest of the local school board's decision to cut the high schools' sports budget by 57 percent. A $120 per parcel tax passed in June, saving the school district's athletic program.
Curran did not know if a "Save Our Sports" initiative would work.
"I went this morning to ask that question and I was told that was up to the school board," Curran said.
Robinson Director of Student Activities Marty Riddle said he is exploring sponsorship options, recently meeting with a marketing firm to discuss a regionwide sponsorship of Northern Region athletics.
"It's something we're in the very tentative stages of investigating," Riddle said. "One of the untapped resources, from a marketing standpoint, is high school athletics and how they can be generating more money for us as schools. It's a fine line because you don't want a school to go overboard, but at the same time, if it's a revenue stream that hasn't been tapped. . . . We'll see if we can find a happy medium in there."
The school board is holding budget-specific public hearings Jan. 26-27 and May 12-13, and the Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings March 31-April 2.
Staff writer Preston Williams contributed to this report.
