MCPS officials see these cuts as necessary due to the County’s current economic state. They have also recommended that two assistant coaching positions, one for outdoor track and one for football, be cut and that all teams have three fewer practices each season.

“I know that with the poor economy and very tough budget, there will have to be cuts somewhere,” Principal Joan Benz said. “I would love to keep all of the teams that we have, especially because these are the teams that help people to refine skills.”

According to head JV cheerleading coach Rebecca Sutton, of the 80 girls who usually try out for cheerleading each year, 30 make the Varsity squad, 20 make the JV squad and 30 are cut. If the JV squad were eliminated, around 50 girls would be cut from cheerleading.

“Cutting 50 girls, that’s just not right,” Sutton said. “It really upsets me that that’s a possibility.”

The JV cheerleading squad allows Varsity hopefuls to learn and refine skills while also showing support for other CHS JV athletes by cheering at their games and competitions. This year, the squad developed its own showcase routine as well.

“I think it’s so important to have JV because then all these other girls who aren’t on varsity level can build up and progress and then they can be on varsity level,” said sophomore Hanifah Mohamad, who was a Varsity cheerleader this year and a JV cheerleader the year before. “On JV you get to work more. It just made me feel ready.”

According to coed volleyball coach Michael Endler, the elimination of coed volleyball would be equally detrimental to student athletes.

“It’s a great sport,” Endler said. “There are very few opportunities that boys and girls have to play together in a sport. It gives them a whole new perspective.”

Endler sees coed volleyball as a way to improve gender equality in high schools. Most Maryland school districts do not have coed volleyball teams.

“There’s a county championship and that’s as far as it goes,” Endler said. “That’s the main reason why it’s expendable. It’s a great opportunity for the kids, and I really don’t think it’s going to save the county that much money.”

Instead of cutting sports teams, Endler suggests raising the extracurricular activity fee as a means of reducing the athletic budget. Sutton agrees that budget cuts should not limit student opportunities.

“Keep the programs that involve students,” Sutton said. “I would make cuts in the areas that least impact students directly.”

According to athletic director Dave Kelley, there are few areas in MCPS athletics that can afford to lose funding.

“There’s not a lot of fluff in the budget,” Kelley said. “If the county looked at cutting transportation, that could help.”

According to Kelley, most CHS teams use $200 to $300 worth of buses each week. If MCPS cut transportation, then athletes would have to carpool to games and competitions.

According to the MCPS website, if JV cheerleading is cut, schools will have the option of enlarging their varsity squads to compensate. According to Sutton, if CHS enlarges its varsity squad, all members will still be required to compete, regardless of their skill levels.

“If a team size becomes too large, everybody suffers in a certain respect,” said William G. Beattie, MCPS Director of System-wide Athletics. “Individual students get less attention in practices, playing time is compromised and the team as a whole often suffers’.”

Kelley hopes that MCPS will find alternative ways to cut back on spending.

“I’d hate to see us lose anything because the way the school system works, once it’s gone it takes a long time before it comes back,” Kelley said. “I would hate to lose any teams or coaching positions.”

CHS athletes such as senior coed volleyball player Wendy Zhao also hope that budget problems will not force MCPS to limit athletic opportunities for students.

“A lot of girls would not have a chance to practice in the off-season and a lot of boys would not be able to play, since the boys team does not have JV,” Zhao said.

Although the school system already outlined budget cuts totaling $137.7 million for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, the county needs to cut an additional $24.4 million. According to a May 19 joint union press release, the cuts will come from the operating budget and from funds for construction and technology.  The press release also stated that MCPS employees will not be furloughed.

Furloughing MCPS employees could have caused major problems, according to Principal Joan Benz.

“Basically, the furloughs [would not have solved] the problem,” Benz said. “The problem is that the money has been spent and [the superintendent of MCPS, Jerry Weast] does not want the Council to come back and say that the school system will get less money.”

Though mandatory furloughs for 5-10 days for the entire school system could have saved an estimated 33.7 million dollars, requiring furloughs within the system could create transportation, food service and teaching problems.

“If a bus driver has to take a day off, would there be no transportation?” Benz asked. “We’re not trying to be different from firefighters and policeman; we have different jobs.”
If employees had been required to take time off, it would most likely not have been cost efficient to hire substitutes, and for some positions, substitutes are hard to find.

According to Benz, mandating employee furloughs would have shortened the school year because the school simply cannot function with so many people not working. However, closing schools could create further problems for the children of poor families, who rely on the school for their main meals everyday.

The county has until May 27 to determine the budget for next year, and according to the May 19 press release, the unions are “confident that the additional cut can be absorbed without resorting to furloughs.”

Despite the upcoming budget cuts, the county will take on an additional fee–the salaries of 17 Educational Facilities Officers (EFO). The current 33 EFOs are on the police payroll, though that number will be reduced to 17, and the county will now assume responsibility for their pay

“It is wonderful that MCPS is going to pick up the expenses because they have added greatly to the school environment,” Benz said.

According to sophomore class MCR Representative Hal Zeitlin, the main goal of food service in schools is to be appealing, high quality, nutritious and respectful of students, needs and differences. Vegetarian and vegan options are also made available to students every day.

The meeting also discussed how MCPS is facing an extreme budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year. The Board of Education cut $200 million through reductions, reorganization and cutbacks.

MCPS is asking the County Council for a one percent increase in their operation budget to $2.2 billion due to an increase in the student population of MCPS.

All students interested in participating in the process should attend the Montgomery County Council meeting in April to voice their opinions.

The requested funds would pay for teacher stipends necessary to run the mentoring programs in the Academies.  Rexahn Pharmaceuticals donated $4,254 to MTS so that the sophomore class could continue its independent experiment this year, but MTS still needs stipend funds for the freshmen MTS experimental design analysis instructional module which takes place after school for eight weeks.

“Our hopes are that we can sustain the Academy during these tough fiscal times by reaching out to the community for support, as in the situation with our community partner, Rexahn Pharmeceuticals,” Signature Program director Barbara Blazer said.

According to Blazer, the Arts Academy will not be closed because it does not require additional funding for after-school programs.  The IS academy, however, requires mentors that cannot be paid for because of the freeze.

“The money required is for the IS advisors [to help students] with their dedicated research study project and Powerpoint presentation,” Blazer said.    “However, as of now, these funds are frozen.”

Blazer is currently attempting to restore some of the funding for the program.

“Although I’ve resubmitted the budget freeze exception request, I have no direction from the people at [MCPS] central office and no official word from the director of Enriched and Innovated Programs at the central office,” Blazer said.

Due to its current budget shortfall, MCPS has made similar cuts to Signature Programs throughout the county.

“Right now Montgomery County is looking at a difficult budget crunch,” MCPS Public Information Office director Dana Tofig said.  “There isn’t a piece of the budget that hasn’t had to take a cut. We are trying to maintain the level of service that we provide for our students, but we have to meet our budgetary percentages.”