Hurricane Girls Lacrosse: My Site News
Monday, November 20AT LAST - WE ARE AN OFFICIAL TEAM
Schools pledge funds for girls' sports
Written by IZZI, MATT
Thu, Oct 12 06
By MATT IZZI On Tuesday, Warwick schools took one small step for girls lacrosse and one giant leap for the future of school sports. Facing looming budget cuts, the School Committee nonetheless approved funding for the Warwick Vets girls’ lacrosse and the Warwick girls’ hockey teams, making a strong statement that their first priority is students and student programs. “[The funds are] a drop in the bucket,” said Chairman Robert Cushman. “The kids deserve it.”
The recognition for the girls’ teams was a long time coming. “I promised these girls we’d be a regular program before Mr. [Robert] Shapiro retires, and, frankly, I’m running out of time,” Vets head coach Charlie Benson had joked prior to the decision, alluding to the superintendent’s impending retirement in June of next year.
Benson has been the catalyst for the girls’ lacrosse program ever since his daughter Kristin gave him the idea four years ago. The team started as a self-funded club team with just 15 members and joined the Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) two years later, after winning School Committee approval as a one-year pilot program. The catch was it still had to be self-funded. The program survived thanks in part to grants secured with the help of Gloria Fairbanks, the city’s director of youth services. This year the funds ran dry.
“We don’t have any more grant possibilities, that’s our problem,” Benson said Tuesday. While he has not given up on finding grants, he acknowledged, “Our main source is not available to us anymore.” With only $1,000 left in the lacrosse account, Benson turned to the committee to save the program.
“Our goal is to ask that we finally become a fully funded regular program in the high schools,” he said, asking for coaching salaries, referees and transportation costs, while saying the team would still pay for their own uniforms and other “fringe stuff.” His previous attempt to get the sport funded had actually gained committee approval in December, only to be foiled by the lack of a teacher contract. The old contract did not recognize lacrosse as a sanctioned sport, and program nearly died at Vets and Toll Gate until the Teachers Union agreed in January to let them continue as self-funded pilots. With a teacher contract in place this fall, however, Benson finally had the chance to gain funding.
One by one, Benson laid out the successes of the D-II program, which he said has grown to be the largest sport at Vets, next to football. Citing a high freshman and sophomore response, he implied the program would only get bigger in the coming years. And the team has had success. He said he started five freshman last year, and the ‘Canes lost their first six games, but then beat two D-I schools, including the eventual state champions, whose only loss the entire season came at Vets. But Benson also highlighted the academic benefits.
“We place a big emphasis on scholastics. We have in-practice tutoring. We had five of the top 10, including the valedictorian, in last year’s class.” He was accompanied by junior captain Danielle Sequira, who is being recruited by Brown University’s lacrosse program.
“Danny is an AP, high honors student,” Benson said. “She has an excellent chance of getting into Brown. That alone should set up interest [in funding the program].” Colleges and universities that carry girls’ lacrosse programs, he said, represent “a Who’s Who of the best schools in the nation,” and he cited a recent article by the Washington Post reporting that lacrosse programs have the highest graduation rates of any college sport.
“We have done more than any program has been asked to do in the history of Warwick,” he said. “We have raised more than $40,000.” No scholastic school sport has ever been asked to be self-funded, he added. “I think this program has had an unbelievable impact on this school,” Benson said. “Vets now has the highest test scores in the city. Coincidence? Maybe. But we focus on academics.”
“I believe it is a [good] program,” said Cushman. “I believe it should be fully funded. The School Committee should look at creative ways to fund these programs.” The chairman noted that some of his ideas had been controversial in the past, such as placing advertisements on school buses. But he urged that tens of thousands of dollars could be used through advertisements on sports fields. Such revenue could make programs like girls’ lacrosse and hockey self-funding, he said, noting that many programs hold their own fundraisers to remain operable.
“If we want these programs to stay around, we have to fund them,” Cushman said. The total operating cost of the team, including coaches, referee and transportation costs, would be roughly $10,000. About $6,000 would go toward coaching salaries. Cushman originally suggested funding the coaches’ salaries, but Benson said funding coaches alone would not support the program.
“We need funding for the entire program.” The team, Benson, reiterated, would pay for its own uniforms. “We don’t care what we wear,” he said. “We just want to play.”
Others on the committee expressed their support. At-large committee member Joyce Andrade said the program has proven to be viable. “I love the idea of tutoring during practice. It’s a great addition.” Committee member Lucille Mota-Costa added, “Somewhere in the next five days we’ll know [how much cuts schools will have to make]. I’m going after no cuts, for precisely this reason.” Benson said the team could wait until the November meeting for an answer, but Christopher Friel said he didn’t want to delay a vote. “They deserve funding at this time,” he said, motioning for the approval of funding.
“With kids out there playing sports, we know where they are, what they’re doing,” Benson said. At least two teams know where they’ll be this year.
Teachers union changes stance, approves lacrosse
There will be Vets girls and Toll Gate boys lacrosse teams this year after all.
Following a meeting last week with Charles Benson, founder of the Vets program, the executive board of the Warwick Teachers Union voted to continue the pilot programs provided the school department does not fund them.
It was barely a month ago that Benson appeared before the School Committee to outline the success of the program and request that it become one of the sports funded through the school budget. While the agenda contained no action item on lacrosse funding the committee voted to provide paid positions for a lacrosse coach and assistant coach.
The action caught the union by surprise.
Since teachers are working under the 2003 contract, there is no provision for the new sport in Warwick schools. Although the union has a policy of no piece meal negotiations, it agreed last year to a pilot program funded by the support of parents, players and others interested in the sport.
So, when the committee went ahead and sanctioned the sport by budgeting the funds, the union viewed it as a breach of contract. The union leadership refused to let that happen. It looked like the sport at both schools was dead.
Benson, a former School Committee member, brought his plea to save the program directly to the union leadership a week ago Tuesday. Toll Gate coach Mike Vadney accompanied him.
Union president Mary Pendergast said yesterday Benson’s offer to raise the funds to continue the sport was critical to the decision to approve continuation of the pilot program.
She said that the union was concerned that the city was “spending more funds on something new” when it still hadn’t reached a contract agreement.
Also troubling the union was the unilateral action of the committee. The department has since sent a letter to the union.
Last Friday Benson learned that the union had changed its position and would be sending a letter to the school department.
Benson was all smiles as he talked about the union’s decision.
The Vets program has blossomed with the school fielding two teams with a total of 34 girls last year. The girls made it to the state finals.
This year Benson expects 40 to 45 girls to turn out for the sport.
Running the program will cost about $12,000. Of that amount the biggest chunk, $7,000, is salaries. The remaining amount is needed to pay for transportation, referees, uniforms, equipment and fees.
“I’m ecstatic,” Benson said Tuesday.
“I would have loved to have done it where the school department pays for the coaches, but to be honest with you all we want to do is play,” he added.
School Committee Chairman Robert Cushman was likewise pleased by the union vote.
Cushman believes the community reaction had a lot to do with the union’s change in position.
“If we didn’t put the pressure on the executive board, this wouldn’t have come about,” he said.
“The lesson that comes out of this is that dealing with the school committee, the executive board, all these groups, speak up,” he said. “If you want change, you really have got to speak up…stop sitting on our hands, be willing to stand up and say what’s right.”
Cushman aims to do that in an effort to get legislation that would require school/teacher negotiations to go to binding arbitration if they have failed to reach a contract after a year of talks. “We need to put the pressure on state leaders so this never happens again,” he said.
Cushman took issue with the union’s condition that the committee not fund lacrosse. He finds the provision hypocritical as far as saving money so as to fund a contract when it costs the department $1,000 a day to hire substitutes every time the union executive committee meets in negotiations.
“I don’t know why they put that stipulation on,” he said.
Asked whether he though the department could fund some aspects of the program, the purchase of equipment for example, Benson said, “I made a promise to Mary (Pendergast) that we’ll fund it. That’s what I’m going to do. An agreement is an agreement.”
Benson said the team would hold fundraisers and request grants in order to underwrite costs.
Team gets funds, but union rejects Vets lacrosse
Four years ago Kristin Benson, then a sophomore at Veterans Memorial High School, told her father that it would be nice if the school had a girls’ lacrosse team.
“What’s lacrosse?” Charles Benson remembers asking his daughter.
Although he knew nothing about the game, Benson figured he could learn. He watched videos and read books and became the coach of a school club team.
“The first game we played we lined up wrong on the field,” he said.
Since its start with 15 girls, the sport has taken off at Vets. By the second year 30 girls were playing and, when the School Committee, with the agreement of the Warwick Teachers Union, sanctioned a one-year pilot program for interscholastic league play, 36 girls were involved. This year Benson expects 40 to 45 girls will participate.
That’s if there is a team.
And that’s all because the union doesn’t have a contract.
At a December meeting Benson appeared before the School Committee and outlined the success of the program. The committee was impressed and approved funding for a coach and assistant coach. Benson was elated; it appeared lacrosse would become a fixture at the school.
This week school officials and Benson learned the union wasn’t going along and, because lacrosse is not defined as one of those sports listed under the former contract, they would not agree to its continuance.
“They unilaterally went ahead without conferring with us,” Teachers Union President Mary Pendergast said of the committee.
Pendergast said the union executive board would consider whether to add lacrosse when a new contract is in place and that the reason the union agreed to the pilot program was because they expected to have a contract by now. The current contract expired in the fall of 2003.
Pendergast also raised questions about the financial needs of the program. “If they [the schools] are so strapped for money, how can they be coming up with the money?”
“It’s so ridiculous; it just hurts the kids again,” said School Committee member Robert Cushman. Cushman likened the action to that taken by some teachers last year in refusing to write comments on report cards because that is not specified within the contract.
While the union is miffed it wasn’t consulted prior to the committee vote, school administrators were apparently also surprised by the action. School Human Resources Director Rosemary Healey said Tuesday she had expected Benson to make a presentation but not for the committee to act.
Now that they have acted, it appears the committee is in a Catch-22.
If it approves an interscholastic league team then “it is at risk of breaching the contract,” said Healey. If it doesn’t approve a league team, the group could seemingly go back to the club status but without the coach, who is also a teacher. Also, Benson would presumably have to go back to raising funds as he did to get the program started.
Ironically, since the committee did not vote on the boys’ lacrosse team at Toll Gate (the only other Warwick school to offer the sport) it is not affected at this time. The Toll Gate program, however, is also a one-year pilot.
Going ahead with the two programs means four coaching jobs that, under contract, must be offered to teachers first. Without the programs current teachers will lose their coaching jobs and there will be no new assistant coaching positions.
Former School Committee member Benson soft-peddled the dilemma the team faces. He said he plans to talk with Pendergast and union leaders.
“I think it makes everyone look good,” he said of the sport. He pointed out that softball and track are the only two spring girls’ sports offered at Vets and that because so few know how to play lacrosse, girls are willing to try out.
“It’s the kind of sport everyone can play…everyone is coming in at the same level,” Benson said.
The Vets girls’ team did eventually learn their positions and ended up playing in the state playoffs.
Although Kristin is not longer at Vets and his younger daughter isn’t playing lacrosse, Benson said, “I will do anything to help them. The kids are so excited about it. I’m not giving up.”
Edit: Spoiling success isn't a means to finding a contract
Thu, Jan 12 06
We thought an objective of unions is to preserve and create jobs. And we thought a goal of teachers in concert with schools is to provide a diverse educational experience to young people.
That’s why the Warwick Teachers Union decision not to extend a pilot program for girls lacrosse at Warwick Vets is not only such an anathema to what schools are about, but illustrative of how narrow minded and off base the union has become in its efforts to secure a contract.
The Vets lacrosse story dates back more than three years when with the support of parents a club team was formed at the school. It quickly caught on and from a beginning with 15 girls doubled by its second year.
It was at that point that former School Committee member Charles Benson, who more than any other parent was responsible for starting the team, looked to bring the sport to a new level. The School Committee agreed and with the sanction of the Teachers Union the team (by now two teams) was granted the green light for interscholastic league play.
There was one hitch, however, this was a one-year pilot program.
When Benson returned in December to update the School Committee on the program they were impressed. Thirty-six girls were involved in the program and Benson was expecting 40 to 45 would play this year.
Here was a success. Girls that hadn’t played other sports were trying lacrosse and discovering they could play. There was excitement and enthusiasm. Parents were involved and the icing was the team’s performance that brought them to the state playoffs.
The School Committee did the right thing. They approved the funding of a coach and assistant coach for this year.
But the union says the committee did the wrong thing – the committee didn’t talk to them first. Further, union president Mary Pendergast says the union approved last year’s pilot program because they believed a teachers contract would have been settled by now and that her board isn’t going along with an extension of the program until there is a settlement.
How ludicrous.
The union will lose four jobs (coach and assistant coach positions at Vets and the boys’ team at Toll Gate) and the schools will lose the sport.
Indeed no one has won from the prolonged teacher contract dispute. But if the union is seeking a fair and equitable agreement, as they say they are, then they must also adhere to principles as educators and what is best for the students.
Girls lacrosse mobilized by Benson
| Thu, Nov 11 04 | |
| "By CHRIS DIAKOPOULOS
Committeeman Bob Cushman came out of the closed School Committee meeting Tuesday night at the school department to chat with the boys and girls of Warwick lacrosse teams and their coach, former School Committee member Charlie Benson. Benson is looking to get funding for existing lacrosse clubs before funding a proposed girls hockey team. “I'm not sure you on the School Committee know what we have been doing,” Benson said to Cushman. Benson wanted to show the School Committee why lacrosse should get money ahead of a hockey team, so he called the lacrosse teams to the meeting to enlighten the committee about their achievements with the lacrosse clubs. Cushman had expressed interest in funds for girls hockey after he was approached by Toll Gate freshman Erin Moreland with a list of 37 girls who want a hockey team. Benson read the article in the Beacon last Tuesday and wanted to know where Cushman thought the hockey money could be found. And, if it was found, why not give it to the lacrosse team? Cushman assured the more than 30 lacrosse players and their parents that there was no hidden funding, and that the girls hockey idea was still in its infancy and hadn't even been looked at by the School Committee. “I am just investigating it now,” said Cushman. “I am actually looking to what you did with lacrosse as a model. I know we can't do it full blown, but maybe piecemeal.” In spite of having no school funding, the lacrosse team has enjoyed growing success over the past two years with a grant from Brine sports equipment for $3,000 worth of lacrosse gear and an $11,000 grant from the Bright Futures after school program. Benson wants support for lacrosse to get girls and boys interscholastic teams for several reasons, pointing out to Cushman that they still need the school support to go interscholastic. Benson pointed out that the girls club team won seven games last year and beat the junior varsity team from North Kingstown, an interscholastic-level team. Cushman agreed that lacrosse was “so far ahead” of the hockey team idea that “maybe we can start doing something for you sooner rather than later,” although it was a “tough year for the budget.” Superintendent Robert Shapiro suggested Benson schedule a meeting with him to look at the issues and jokingly asked him, “Do you think you could teach the superintendent to play?” Benson smiled. “I don't perform miracles,” he said. Other members of the School Committee trickled out of the closed session to hear the end of Cushman's conversation with Benson. For the record, School Committee Chair Joyce Andrade said that closed meetings weren't for looking at issues before they were broached in public, as had been reported in the Beacon prior to the meeting, but were specifically for dealing with contract negotiations, student hearings and personnel issues." |
Benson asks where's money for girls hockey team
| Tue, Nov 09 04 | |
| "By CHRIS DIAKOPOULOS
Former School Committee member Charles Benson plans to attend the closed School Committee meeting tonight at the school department with 35 members of the girls lacrosse team he coaches to ask where committee member Bob Cushman intends to find money for a high school girls ice hockey team. Benson stopped by the Warwick Beacon office yesterday in response to an article about starting a girls ice hockey team that ran in Thursday's paper. He wanted to know if Cushman had said where the money for a girls ice hockey team would come from, pointing out that the girls and boys lacrosse teams were established two years ago and deserve any extra sports funding that can be found for several reasons. “I wanted to know if he thinks there is money available for this,” said Benson. “If there is, that's great, but it should be going to lacrosse before it goes to hockey. We have proven over two years that we can get a team together and support it. With girls volleyball moving from the spring to the fall there will only be two sports for the girls in the spring: softball and track.” Softball and track are both interscholastic league level sports. Benson said lacrosse was the only club level sport available during the spring, noting how competitive the softball team was. “If you haven't been playing softball from the time you were nine or 10 years old, then you won't be playing on the high school team,” he said. According to Benson, Warwick high schools already have four winter sports available for girls: basketball, indoor track, swimming and gymnastics. “[Hockey] would add a fifth sport to the winter, and I think it's more important to have a third sport in the spring,” said Benson. “The School Committee obviously doesn't know what is going on in the schools,” continued Benson. “I'm not against the girls hockey team, it's just that we have been waiting two years under the impression that there is no money. If there is money, I think it's only fair that it goes to lacrosse.” Cushman is known for supporting creative school funding methods such as selling advertisements on school buses, something Benson also supports. “I'm all for advertising,” said Benson, “on the athletic fields and buses. What's the difference between putting ads in schools and Alan Shawn Feinstein putting his name on a school?” The school committee meeting is technically open to the public in accordance with Rhode Islands open meeting laws, until the committee votes to close the meeting, the vote being the only item scheduled on the agenda. The school committee often uses these closed meetings to understand all the facets of an issue before accepting arguments from the public for or against an issue." |