Summer Conditioning Continues Despite Levy Cloud
Germantown, OH (August 12, 2004) All summer long athletes and coaches have been hoping for the levy to pass and actually a most of the kids seemed pretty confident that it would pass. And it did.
Farmersville and Germantown residents are very supportive of the school system and athletic program at Valley View, so many of the student athletes and most of the coaches were pleased, but not really surprised that the second time around the levy passed.
The money from the levy will be used to support several things, including: Helping maintain the current class sizes, ensuring that school buildings continue to me well-maintained, provide a safe environment, address the special needs of students, providing updated staff training, replacing older busses and being able to continue the extracurricular activities that Valley View is surrounded with.
The money from the levy that does go towards maintaining the availability of extra curricular activities is used only for salaries, transportation and maintenance. It is in no way used to support the athletics at Valley View. Spartan athletics are supported by gate receipts; hence the importance of filling in the canceled football games.
If the levy hadn't have passed each athlete would have had to pay $200 per sport that they participated in, but now those fees drop to $50 with a $100 cap.
The $200 charge would've created financial problems for the guardians of the student athletes and many students might not have been able to play all sports, if any, that they desired. Because of the chance of this occurring, there was a small fear that athletes wouldn't condition during the summer because of the chance that they wouldn't be playing during the fall season. Fortunately this didn't happen.
"My numbers were up during summer conditioning. I think sports around Valley View are pretty big and a lot of the kids were confident it the levy would pass," Cross Country Coach Denny Shepherd said.
"Typically our community supports our school and if it comes down to a small fee parents are willing to pay it. Actually if it came down to it and the levy didn't pass I think the community would still find some way to help cover the financial strain," Shepherd added.
Boys soccer coach Devin Stoutenborough sat down with his kids and parents to discuss matters about the levy.
"We met in May and talked about our plans. We planned stages while talking to with the parents of our athletes. And discussed what was going to happen," Stoutenborough said.
As for the levy, Stoutenborough felt that many of the kids were unsure about the community's decision of approving the levy, which they did last Tuesday.
"Nobody really knew it passed. Many of the kids didn't know until I told them," Stoutenborough said.
"We really encouraged the parents to get involved and the community as well. As far as the kids, all they could do is sit back and wait and hope that the community does the right thing," Stoutenborough commented.
Now that the verdict is out, Stoutenborough is relieved for his players and their parents because the cost to participate is now reasonable.
"It's still a lot of money. Parents are already paying a lot of money for things like shoes and shin guards, but at the same time if we compare it to the $200 fee, it's a lot better," Stoutenborough mentioned.
All of the coaches are relieved that this enormous pressure is lifted from the parents and kids shoulders. They will still have to pay a small fee, but an affordable one.
As Stoutenborough said, the cost of athletics is a lot by itself when you consider all the equipment an individual player needs, depending on the sport.
Athletics bring a community together through the events and success in the events. Valley View has always been strong academically and athletically and now the coaches, parents and players can concentrate on continuing the success Valley View has had for as long as most can remember.
Good Luck fall sports teams!
