More students are participating in Ridgefield High School athletics than ever before, and teams are advancing further in their respective seasons, according to Athletic Director Carl Charles.
Mr. Charles requested the school board approve his proposed $1,369,848 budget for the 2015-2016 school year — a $63,954 increase from this year’s budget of $1,305,894. Ultimately they did approve, sending it along as part of its overall proposed budget they sent on to the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance.
“The No. 1 highlight for me is the total participation,” he told the Board of Education at its meeting Feb. 4.
“We have 1,577 total athletes across three seasons,” he added. “It’s a record for us and it’s unique compared to other schools in our area that are similar in size.”
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In total, the board would spend $985,808 on athletics next year, if the proposed budget is approved — an $88,954 overall increase from the $896,854 spent this year (66%) — with the rest, $384,040, coming from additional revenue sources.
Compared to other local school boards, Ridgefield is spending significantly less on athletics with dues and fees, field rentals and gate receipts picking up a substantial portion of the tab, Mr. Charles said. And as a result, the board is spending only $505 per student.
In 2014-2015, Darien’s school board funded 94% of its athletic budget; Joel Barlow funded 89%; New Canaan 90%, Weston 85%, Wesport 93% and Wilton 90%. Those districts per student price tags range from $679 to $1,036.
The only school district with more participants is Westport with 1,862 total students and 72 teams.
“This strong community support is a source of pride for the town of Ridgefield,” Mr. Charles told the board. “Over half of the RHS student body participates in the athletics program and a lot of credit goes to those people behind the scenes.”
Diversity
Of the 1,577 students across the three sports seasons, Mr. Charles said that 990 of them were unique athletes.
“It’s more than 500 per season, which we should all be proud of,” he said.
He highlighted the diversity of the athletics program that would have 61 teams — 31 varsity, 20 junior varsity, and 10 freshman; 31 boys teams and 30 girls teams — if approved.
As part of his proposed budget for 2015-2016, Mr. Charles said he’d like to add two teams — JV girls swimming and JV boys golf — due to increased participation.
Currently, the district has 59 teams.
Success, success, success
Diversity wasn’t the only source of pride for Ridgefield, Mr. Charles said.
He told the board the schools’ teams had achieved a “high degree of success for individual athletes and teams.”
“Almost every team made it to the FCIAC playoffs in 2013-2014 and almost every team made it to the state-level playoffs,” he added. “Sure, it impacts the bus bills but this showcases what we’re doing — developing all-state and all-league athletes who go on to play at the collegiate level.”
No budget transfer
In years past, the athletics budget has received money from its fund balance — $25,000 in 2014-2015, $50,000 in 2013-2014 and $50,000 in 2012-2013.
However, this year, Mr. Charles said there would be no fund balance transfer.
He urged the board to approve this budget item so that the funds would go toward two “very pressing” capital budget items — replacing three wooden staircases at Tiger Hollow, estimated to cost $80,000, and replacing the stadium’s visiting bleachers, estimated to cost $110,000.
“The wooden stairs were done about 14-15 years ago when we didn’t have funds to build the appropriate concrete ones,” he explained. “The problem is they wash out in the rain and they become hazardous.”
He said that the new concrete staircases would be modeled after an existing structure built two years ago that leads down to Tiger Hollow.
“It’s going to be done through a partnership with the Parks and Rec department, the town and the schools,” Mr. Charles explained. “This is why I am juggling some costs and this is why there’s no move from the fund balance this year.”
Potential lawsuit
Mr. Charles said that the capital budget item for the new visitor bleachers was brought to his attention because of a potential lawsuit the school is facing after someone fell through a hole in the structure this past fall at a Soccer Club of Ridgefield (SCOR) tournament.
“It’s a safety issue — both items are in violation or close to being in violation of state codes,” he said.
“The current visiting bleachers are our former home bleachers and we’ve never done anything with them since moving them over to that side of the field,” he added.
While fund balance expenditures and partnerships have helped finance projects such as the new turf practice field at Tiger Hollow, Mr. Charles said these two items would be harder to find fundraising money.
“It’s easy to fundraise for a new field or new stadium lights; it’s hard to fundraise for a staircase,” he said. “And because it’s a safety expenditure, it’s on us.”
He concluded that he’d like to get the staircases done first in 2015-2016 and the bleachers in the following budget, while guiding visiting fans to sit in the home section of Tiger Hollow.
“Everyone’s been real supportive thus far and I feel confident that it can be accomplished,” he said. “And that’s why I’d like to move whatever’s leftover at the end of this year toward these capital projects rather than move it into the operating budget.”
Concussions
Thinking about safety and sports, board members Karen Sulzinsky and Chris Murray wondered what contact sports were doing to prevent concussions.
Mr. Charles said that his department was looking at newer football helmets and other concussion-related materials but they wouldn’t be coming this budget season.
“It’s pretty costly,” he explained. “They’re a tremendous tool to have but I’ve spoken with the board’s attorney and the reality is that once you go into that avenue for one sport, say its football, then you have to provide it for all athletes.”
In June 2013, the board received a donation of $15,300 to purchase new helmets for all three levels of the football program.
“We have about another $1,000 that’s been donated for ‘smart impact’ football helmets,” Mr. Charles said.
“What we do have in place already are ImPACT Concussion tests for all of our athletes to use before and during the season,” he added. “They are all over the country now, but we were one of the first programs in Fairfield County to get them and now doctors ask for those results — parents can see them, too, and print them out. It helps eliminate some of the ambiguity that was there before.”