Port Aransas South Jetty

Are you ready for some football?

A decision to add football and volleyball programs may not be made at next week’s meeting of the Port Aransas Independent School District Board of Trustees.

Next week’s meeting will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 10 (not the usual second Thursday of the month), in the administration building, 100 S. Station St. It is open to the public.

Trustee Jay Jones, a proponent of the programs, said, “There are huge questions. How do you pay for it? What’s the true cost?”

Jones is on a committee composed of community members behind the programs, those who have not expressed positions, the athletic director, a teacher and former coach, as well as Trustee Chuck Borders.

The committee will present estimated costs to the board on Wednesday, but Jones said the costs will all depend on options: “Do we want a brick stadium, or bleachers or do we want to sit on the backs of our pickups for a while?”

Jones also pointed out that the contract on the land where the track surrounding what could become a football field is located is about to expire. The contract is with The University of Texas at Austin.

Staffing is another issue, Jones said.

“We’ve seen one version of how to staff it, but we haven’t seen, and we probably won’t see, a real look at how we could get our cake and eat it, too (add the programs without adversely impacting existing programs). How could we really modify existing staff and handle it? And maybe we can’t,” Jones said.

Asked where they stood on the issue, Jones’ fellow trustees, almost without exception, expressed concern about adding programs that would dilute current academic and athletic offerings.

Borders, the other trustee on the committee, said it would take a change in emphasis on academics to an emphasis on athletics to add successful football and volleyball programs to the curriculum. That, he said, is based strictly on the financial aspect of the proposal.

“We can do it – but at what cost? De- spite everybody’s good intentions that we can have both, the reality is that we can’t; we’re going to have to make a choice, and I’m not sure I’m prepared to make that choice,” Borders said.

Rick Adams, president of the board, said he hasn’t seen anything that shows him that anyone has been able to add a program such as football without there being a “take away” from academics.

“It would be difficult for me to cast a vote based on the possibility that we could be the first one to pull it off. Empirical data shows that no one else has done that. The reality is that they chose to accept a trade-off,” Adams said.

He said he is not willing to do that, “and I have not heard that the community is willing to” accept that trade-off.

Funding, Adams added, is another issue. He questions whether the community is willing to trade off higher taxes (in the form of a bond issue or increase in property taxes) to fund the programs.

“There’s no way around that,” Adams said.

He said he’s heard the community will “kick in” on the start-up costs, but that it is unclear whether that amount added to any grants that could be obtained would be anything more than enough to subsidize the programs, not to mention cover on-going expenses that would have to come from taxpayers.

That said, Adams said he has not taken a formal position and will evaluate the information when and if the question comes to a vote.

Trustee Ann Appling reiterated the position she took at a workshop meeting last month, that she will not sacrifice academics or existing athletic programs for football and volleyball.

“It (football and volleyball) can be in addition – I’m not willing to give up any academics for any sports,” Appling said.

“If we had a gift from heaven, sure” she’d accept adding football and volleyball, said Trustee Margaret Price.

“My job is fiduciary, and that’s how I have to look at it. I can’t look at is as though ‘I want it.’ It’s, ‘Do we have the dollars?’” Price said.

She added that she is not in favor of changing existing programs to add football and volleyball.

“I don’t want to give up what we have now. I’m open to suggestions, and if someone wants to find perpetual grants or sponsors – or mana from heaven – I’m for it,” Price said.

Trustee Rita Reed stood by the comment she made at the workshop in May when she said she would hate to see resources for such endeavors as expanding the language program drained to fund football and volleyball.

Reed also noted that, according to what Athletic Director Steve Reaves said at the workshop, most students participating in athletics are involved in three sports, so “they have plenty of activities.”

Trustee Ken Dunton said he likes seeing people getting involved in the activities of the district and proposing new activities for the kids, “but the priority has to remain academics.”

“We have an incredible academic program and a great current athletic program. We can add anything we like as long as it doesn’t impact academics. Our academic program cannot be compromised in any way,” Dunton said.

The issue has generated letters to the editor and fueled “water cooler talk” since it was first brought up early this year. The debate, in a few cases, has become heated.

“I’m disappointed that people in the community would let something like this divide them,” Price said.

“I hope we mellow out and I hope the board takes ownership and says, ‘Let’s really look at this and see what it will take,’” Jones said.