It was decided by a couple of a$%#&*$@ who were the "administrators" for Middle School swimming, that too much money was being spent on the swim program. It has been officially eliminated from middle school as of this morning. Cross Country will replace it as the new "no cut" sport.

Many reasons were given as to why it was cut.
1. It was costing too much to pay the coaches (there must be 3 coaches if you have over 75 kids, for safety concerns). I read that to interpret, "there are too many kids participating." There was a huge jump this year in one of the middle schools and they had to hire an extra coach.
2. The new high school doesn't have its own pool and it was getting too complicate to "share" with the other high schools, plus the middle schools. Keep in mind that we middle schools worked out our own schedules, cut practice times, and shared the pools with each other whenever there was a conflict.
3. A comment was made by $%$&# that as he observed the ability levels of the middle schoolers, he didn't know "how much *real* coaching is happening, anyway."
4. If middle schoolers want to swim, they should "just join the Cruisers" (the local community swim team). Keep in mind, the Cruisers are a private club and the fee is quite high per session.
5. Cross Country can be run in the fall, where Swimming would have to work around high school girl's swimming. So there was no other place in the school year to do it. In talking with our track coach this year, he can't even get people to run the Mile... and they expect Cross Country to be the next no-cut sport?

I am currently investigating ways to get in touch with the swim parents and see what I can do to at least register the outrage with the district. My middle school had 97 students on the swim team this year, and we consistently hover between 90 and 100 students. I can list multiple names of students whose social life and confidence has turned around because of the swim team. Two kids who live in foster care and raise their grades from Ds & Es to Cs only once a year - so they can be on the swim team. Another girl who was depressed in 7th grade because her friends didn't like her anymore - until she met new friends through the swim team.

A student who was new this year and was in a contained classroom due to emotional needs, yet found 3 new buddies because of the swim team. Another boy who joined a church and changed his entire circle of friends because of the influence of another boy on the swim team. Yet another student who used to eat Kleenex for attention in my classroom, who now swims for the high school team and came close to making the State meet this year - because he joined the swim team in middle school and finally found a place where he belonged and could excel. How many examples do they need?!

The fact that this year, the middle school where the "administrators" worked also had brand new (horrible) coaches and a huge drop in their swim team, has not escaped my attention.