News: More on Proposed Lacrosse Cuts in Loudoun Budget

(Apr. 12, 2010) - With a vote less than 48 hours away that could curtail the growth of lacrosse in Loudoun on the high school level, more lacrosse supporters are weighing in on the proposal to eliminate junior varsity lacrosse in the upcoming Loudoun County Public Schools budget.


Mark Madigan, who was one of the founders of the former Eastern Loudoun Lacrosse, which was itself a splitting of youth lacrosse into two groups in Loudoun -- Eastern and Western -- anbd has since split into three groups -- Algonkian, Ashburn and Dulles South -- gave his take on it: "Since I run a business in Loudoun County, I look at things from that perspective. My business perspective is to look at the athletics from an investment vs. impact to students:
·Cost of Program
·Revenue generated by program (fee, gate, concession)
·Students served by program

Madigan continues: "If your programs pay for themselves, why are they even part of the discussion? Other points to consider is how can youth organizations thrive in these times and schools struggle. We are the richest county in the country and we can’t figure out how to have sports for our children. Youth organizations do it with fees and volunteers – why can’t schools do the same."

"The worst case scenario with HS sports should be a high fee – never cut them."

And here is note from one parent, voicing concerns:

Dear Mr. Guerin and Mr. Stevens:

I deeply appreciate the work both of you do for the schools in the Sterling community--especially during this time of decreased funding. Of course, everyone has a pet project that they don't want cut. Unfortunately, I'm no different.

My daughter just turned 6 yesterday--and she spent her birthday at her first lacrosse practice. I have never seen her this enthusiastic about a sport. We've tried soccer, and talked about softball, and I admit I force the issue of swimming, but this has seemed to catch her like no other sport has. When returning to the field after water breaks, Gwen blocked her friend's return using defensive tactics she had just learned.

Of course, I know that I've got a while before I have to think about junior varsity anything, much less lacrosse--and by that time, it may be a completely different economic environment. But there's a girl that was Gwen's age that is looking to play junior varsity next spring, who may have been six when she fell in love with the sport. I would hope that this girl's mother would speak up for my daughter, just as I'm now speaking up for hers.

Lacrosse is an up and coming sport in our area--and it is the only JV sport targeted for elimination. Its elimination will affect the quality of our varsity teams as well, and may seriously hurt the scholarship opportunities for our kids. My own alma mater, James Madison University, has an outstanding women's lacrosse team--and will be looking for new talent, which it may be unable to find in Loudoun County. And every kid should have the opportunity to go to JMU, though I may be biased.

All this aside, there are 500 students who are looking forward next spring to playing this really fun sport. How will they fill that time? Will they be able to find another sport that they love as much? As this country struggles with child obesity, a sport that encouages cardio-vascular health and agility and is also a lot of fun is needed at every age level.

I urge you to not cut the funding of a sport that has captured the imagination of so many of our kids--including a little girl just discovering it. Thank you so much for your time and attention to this matter and for reading this e-mail. And thank you for the work you do each day for the children in our community.

Best regards,
-Jen L.

Guerin of the School Board followed up on her letter:

Dear Mrs. L.,

Thank you for your letter. I appreciate your point of view, but I cannot support spending $439,000 on sports activities when we are looking at $19.3 million in potential reductions, which include these items.

Reading Specialists $1,900,000 27 positions
Middle School Deans $1,500,000 20 positions
Technology Assistants $2,112,500 87 positions
Career Center Assistants $ 580,000 12.5 positions
Assistant Athletic Directors $ 840,000 12 positions

I happen to think that saving these positions is more important to our instructional mission than sports activities.

Warren Geurin

And finally from another well-connected youth lacrosse source, an email to key supporters:

All –

1.) I spoke with Mr. Geurin last night prior to the start of the formal meeting. He said he worked with Wes to get JV lacrosse added a few years ago and that there was very little chance that we would get 5 votes to retain it in this year’s budget.

2.) I spoke with the SBHS Athletic Dir. Today. He said the main costs for a JV team are coaches (~$5k), officials and transportation.

3.) I spoke with Janet Gorski, LCPS Budget Dir. She said that $132,000 is budgeted for JV lacrosse. Based on the numbers in the Tier One budget cuts they expect a $439,000 savings from the line item that groups JV lacrosse with all freshman sports. That leaves $307,000 for all freshman football teams, boys and girls basketball teams, volleyball teams and cheerleading. The budget numbers for JV lacrosse seem proportionately high!

4.) A quick scan of the high school websites indicate that all 10 high schools are fielding boys JV lacrosse teams and 5 are fielding girls teams. I will note that all three high schools in Mr. Geurin’s Sterling/Cascades area indicate on their websites that they have both boys and girls JV teams.

5.) In regards to Mr. Geurin’s list below. I would not argue the importance of his list below; however, the Tier One cuts total $25.1 M and the board only needs to cut $19.3 M. I would not think that it would be hard to find room for $132,000 above the cut line.

6.) In an email I received today from School Board Chairman John Stevens he said, “We will hold another public hearing on Monday April 12th. We will vote on the final budget on Tuesday April 13th. Please let your neighbors, your friends, your fellow parents know that this is the time to be heard on what we can do without next year, and what must be preserved.”

7.) I am hearing that the school board is getting a lot of email traffic regarding lacrosse. I believe that we need to keep the emails coming and attend in large numbers on Monday, prior to the Tuesday vote. The key is to get at least two board member who are willing to put forward a motion to retain JV lacrosse and then 3 more members to support that motion.

And let's wrap it all up with final thoughts from Madigan:

$132, 000 for JV lacrosse

10 HS, 30 boys and 30 girls @ $100 per player is $60,000K. @ $200 per player that is $120K. Add in tickets and concessions and they make money. I think this is the argument. Keep it alive with a fee. If the youth leagues can donate money to help. Even better.