As a student at Thunder Mountain High School, I am here to tell you that I strongly disagree with the reasons that the school board has for choosing Juneau-Douglas High School over TMHS, as the school to put the football program under. The request to consolidate TMHS and JDHS football teams has been approved by the Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA). The vote was 4-1, having only Region V, the Southeast Region voting against the consolidation. The reasons for choosing JDHS over TMHS was based on the financial status, safety concerns and the declining number of participants in both schools. However, I believe that the school board should have fought to create a brand new team that is not associated with either high schools, rather than choosing between the two.
One reason they chose JDHS was based on their financial status. The TMHS football team is in much higher debt than JDHS’ football team. The Thunder Mountain football team is reportedly more than $100,000 in debt, while JDHS is only around $30,000 in debt. Yes, that is more or less a $70,000 difference between the two schools. However, let us not forget the fact that the JDHS football team has been losing to the TMHS football team for the past two years. Additionally, our football team has gone to playoffs in Palmer two years in a row. Thus, that being a reason as to why the Thunder Mountain football team is in such debt. Despite of losing to Palmer High School both years, you can’t ignore the fact that the TMHS program has been thriving. Choosing JDHS based on the lower amount of debt does not make Thunder Mountain’s $100,000 debt disappear. The financial status of both schools should not have been compared and this should not have been a basis on why they chose JDHS.
According to Bridget Weiss, the JSD Director of Student Services, another reason that the school board chose JDHS over TMHS, was the concern for the safety of the football players, due to the declining numbers of participants in both schools. TMHS has had more players in the past seasons compared to JDHS. This 2017 football season, Thunder Mountain had roughly around 60 players, while Juneau-Douglas only had 35 players. Thunder Mountain has built a program that grew and made stronger by the players and their determination to be better. It is clear that TMHS had a higher number in its roster this year than JDHS, and yet JDHS was chosen over TMHS.
Although it is clear which school was favored, choosing one school over the other for any reason is simply unfair. Consolidation means the action or process of combining a number of things into a single more effective or coherent whole. The decision to hand over the football program to JDHS is not a consolidation, it isn’t an act of combining the team, it is simply taking away a team and leaving us, the students and athletes of Thunder Mountain a “choice” to play and root for our rival school, a “choice” to represent a school that we don’t go to. We are the falcons and we are left with a “choice” to support and become the bears. JDHS already has the tennis and hockey team, why take away our football team too? A fair decision would be to combine both football teams under a new name, such as the Juneau Football Team, instead of the TMHS or the JDHS Football Team. I understand that there are rules, rules such as the consolidated football team must be named or represented by an already existing high school. However, some rules should be broken.
You should care and this matters because combining the football teams under JDHS will affect many students and athletes that attend TMHS. We have the right to express our concerns and opinion to the people who hold the power to make such decisions, regarding our school and education. We cannot stop the consolidation, but we can speak out and stand up for our school. In the midst of losing our football program, I hope that we can all fight this together and show the school board and the entire town that we won’t simply accept their decision, because TMHS has a great ability to come together when faced with difficult challenges.
• Laurine Araneta is a junior at Thunder Mountain High School. My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.
