Freshman Sports Axed at East Detroit

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
By Mitch Hotts, Macomb Daily Staff Writer

East Detroit Public Schools has been forced to eliminate one quarter of its athletic program due to budget issues, wiping out numerous freshman programs including football, soccer and baseball.

Faced with a $3.9 million budget deficit, the school board last week took action to dump freshman sports and sideline cheerleading, and will combine the Oakwood and Kelly middle school programs into one team in each sport.

The move, part of the district's deficit elimination plan, saves the Eastpointe-based district about $128,000, according to Superintendent Bruce Kefgen.

"This is nobody's fault, it's the state of Michigan falling on our shoulders to deal with," said Kefgen. "It's the reality and we have to accept it and move forward the best we can."

There's more reality coming as the school board will conduct a workshop meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday to study which of the community's buildings should be closed in order to shave expenses.

"And after that at some point we're going to have to look at reducing personnel," said school board President Jon Gruenberg.

By eliminating the freshman sports program, the school district will save on coaching and officials' salaries and transportation costs. The move also impacts student-athletes' ability to better learn their sports as they go onto higher grades and the junior varsity and varsity programs.

"We would love to see our sports programs grow and develop and the freshman area is a key part of that," said Kevin Nugent, varsity volleyball coach for East Detroit High School. "It is very difficult but we realize it's important to have smaller class sizes or to have academic programs even if we have to lose something elsewhere."

Frank Costanzo, former head coach for the freshman boy's baseball team, said the program cut will have a definite impact on the junior varsity and varsity teams at the high school level.

"It will hurt morale, first of all," said Costanzo, who now works for Oakland County schools. "The freshman program sets the tone for the student athletes for those next three years."

Still, Gruenberg said another workshop meeting scheduled for July 22 will address ways to strengthen the remaining athletic program.

Enrollment in the south Macomb County district has been on a downward trend for the past five years, according to a report compiled by the finance department. The number of students attending East Detroit has fallen 20 percent to 4,494.

At the same time, employee health care costs are expected to rise 10 percent this year, along with a 21-percent jump in utility expenses.

Kefgen, the superintendent, said closing at least one building is required to stem the red ink flow. The only building not on the chopping block is East Detroit High School, he said.

Shutting down one of the elementary schools could save between $423,000 and $500,000, while shutting one of the middle schools would save about$800,000.

The school board previously voted to close Kantner Elementary School, but children's services such as Head Start and preschool programs are still held there. Those services might be moved to the administration building to permanently close Kantner.

The school closing — which would go into effect in 2010-11 — must be decided before the school board can move forward implementing a $23 million bond program for infrastructure improvements to the remaining school facilities.

Under state law, bond money can only be used on "bricks and mortar" and can't be used for salaries.

Story URL: http://www.macombdaily.com/articles/2009/07/14/news/srv0000005840450.txt