Juneau School District officials hosted a public forum Monday evening at Thunder Mountain High School to discuss consolidating four more high school activities for the 2018-19 school year.
Football, football cheerleading, softball and robotics are four programs whose continued viability at both TMHS and Juneau-Douglas High School has been called into question because of low participation numbers or budget concerns.
JSD Director of Student Services Bridget Weiss, who chaired the meeting, was not available for comment by phone Tuesday on the specifics of why the meeting was called this week. A notice of the meeting was posted on JSD’s website, and an email was sent to school district coaches beforehand, asking them to alert parents, booster club and others to the meeting.
Weiss shared the results of a recent survey that found only 18 percent of close to 500 high school parents, students and coaches responded that consolidation would “absolutely” benefit their activity. Forty-seven percent of respondents said consolidation would “not at all” benefit their respective activity.
The Alaska School Activities Association recently reapproved a one-year waiver for JDHS wrestlers, JDHS drama/debate/forensics members and TMHS tennis players to compete at high schools they don’t attend.
“What I want the community to know is this is not about decreasing participation (in activities),” JSD Superintendant Mark Miller said Monday in an interview. “This is about keeping programs up and running so that students that want to can participate in activities that otherwise wouldn’t be able to exist.”
Last season, the JDHS football team fielded approximately 25 players, barely enough for one varsity squad. Without a junior varsity team to develop younger players, Miller worries about the safety of the younger team members.
“If we end up with 18 kids next year, and five of them are freshmen, we throw them up against a team of 45 from North Pole or end up in the playoffs against Soldotna, somebody could get hurt, and that’s a problem,” Miller said.
The JDHS softball team is less dire at 28 total members. The TMHS softball program is currently composed of 20 participants.
The decision to consolidate any programs won’t be made right away, JDHS Athletic Director Chad Bentz said. Monday’s meeting was simply an attempt to include the public in the process as soon as possible.
“We’re just trying to get as much intel as possible … so that when we make that decision, we’ll have that information,” Bentz said.
The next meeting has yet to be scheduled.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the low participation in high school football, football cheerleading, softball and robotics threatens their continued viability at both schools. The Thunder Mountain High School robotics team coach Carol May said their group does not have low participation.
The article also stated Monday’s activities meeting was not made public beforehand. The Juneau School District advertised the meeting via their website for several weeks, JSD official Bridget Weiss said Wednesday.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com. Reporter Kevin Gullufsen contributed reporting and editing to this article.
Juneau-Douglas’s Liam Van Sickle, left, is tackled by Thunder Mountain’s Duane Harwell in a cross town conference game at TMHS on Sept. 30, 2016. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
Juneau-Douglas’s quarterback Maximus Wheat is chased by Thunder Mountain’s Dominique Maua in a cross town conference game at TMHS on Sept. 30, 2016. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
Field referee Everett Boster calls Juneau-Douglas’ Alyxn Bohulano safe at second under the tag by Thunder Mountain’s Maxie Saceda-Hurt in the first inning at Melvin Park on Friday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
