Letter to the Editor 9/9

Editor:
As a parent of a Central Mountain High School Cross Country athlete, I was disappointed in the response of Dr. Martin last night at the KCSD school board meeting regarding the Junior High Cross Country team. As reported by The Record, “Superintendent Martin said it had been determined the junior high program had never been officially approved by the school board and therefore there were liability questions. She indicated answers are being sought to address the concerns of those upset by the loss of the junior high feeder program.”

Why was this gap not identified and remedied earlier? What other gaps exist in our children’s athletic programs and clubs? Publicly available meeting minutes show that the school board was presented with an Athletic department personnel report on June 20, 2019 that listed Danielle Wilson as Head Cross Country Coach for Central Mountain High/Middle School. Transportation has been provided to the Middle School Cross Country students. Physicals are required and maintained. A co-op team exists with Lock Haven Catholic School. My son was a member of the LHCS team in middle school. He was required to provide the same information to the school district as the CMMS students. Everything appears to be in place for the program. The administration has been providing resources to a program that they have not approved. Unfortunately, the middle school student athletes and their families are the ones impacted by this oversight when the team was cut. While these answers are being sought, what is the status for these student athletes? Dr. Martin’s answer was vague and did not address if this issue could be addressed for this season.

The school board must require an audit of all programs. If this gap exists in the cross country program, we must ensure that the same issues don’t arise for other students. It is unacceptable to be told that you don’t have a program after you have already started to practice and potentially participated in the previous year. Imagine the outrage if this happened to the junior high football team. I ask that the school board remedy this issue as soon as possible to provide the student athletes access to their chosen sport.

Nancy Kaltenbach
KCSD parent