Athletics plan set for board approval

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, December 20, 2006

POULSBO — The recommendation for North Kitsap’s school-related athletics has been handed to the NKSD board and now it awaits final approval early next year.

Only a handful of community members attended a rescheduled study session on the matter Monday night. The NKSD Athletics and Activities Committee chairman Gregg Epperson — also NKSD executive director of student support services — made a presentation outlining how athletic programs could look at North Kitsap and Kingston high schools as well as Poulsbo and Kingston middle schools next year.

The board is expected to take action at its first meeting of the new year — at 7 p.m. Jan. 11, 2007.

The only group voicing displeasure with the AAC’s plan Monday night was the high school cross-country team, which is slated to be split with one team (varsity) at Kingston and two teams (varsity/JV) at North.

The concern among cross-country supporters is that the sport won’t generate interest to form a full team at Kingston. At the end of last season, there was only one returning girl and three returning boys who finished the season who lived within the Kingston attendance boundary.

“I think the board really has to look at the reality of the situation that there may not be enough kids,” Kingston resident and XC parent Dave Roberts said. “Team is paramount in cross country.”

School board director Dan Delaney asked, “What if you only have two students turn out … what are you going to do?”

“Time will tell on all of these numbers,” Epperson replied. “You have to have a Year One to offer it, and obviously the hope is if we offer it, the students will come out and will participate.”

With the task of maximizing the number of opportunities for students, the AAC has recommended — at the high school level — that Kingston High School open with a full slate of programs nearly identical to North’s with a few subtle differences.

Pending final school board approval, the Kingston High School boys and girls swimming, gymnastics and boys and girls golf teams would all compete as combined teams with North, while all other sports would have Buccaneer teams in the school’s first year.

At the middle school level, also pending approval, both Poulsbo and Kingston will join a newly formed middle school league, which was forged through the efforts of NKSD junior high athletic directors Bob Good and Erin Murphy. However, in aligning with that league, each school will consequently drop its baseball and fastpitch programs since there are only two other league schools which participate in the sports.

Across the board, student-athletes in North Kitsap may also have to pay more to participate in 2007. As the recommendation currently stands, fees would increase from $60 to $90 per sport at the high school level and from $35 to $50 per middle school sport. Also at the middle school, students participating in intramural sports would have to pay $15.

“It makes sad … that even when you go into intramural sports … we have to charge a fee,” Delaney said. “If we really believe that sports are as important to the development of kids as the cognitive senses, we need to make it part of the curriculum.”

Delaney’s sentiment was met with a flurry of difficult scenarios, however, the AAC recommendation appeared to be accepted. For a look at the specific offerings slated for KHS, NKHS, PMS or KMS (pending final board approval) visit www.nksd.wednet.edu.