School board committee hears request for $1M in additional high school athletics funding

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Manchester School District (MSD) Athletic Coordinator Christine Pariseau-Telge told the Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) Committee on Finance and Facilities that the district’s athletics department needs almost $1 million more per year to properly provide athletic opportunities for all students and increase competitiveness with other school districts in the state.

Currently, the Athletics Department has a budget of $2.1 million or 1.08 percent of the MSD Budget, not including revenues from admission fees at football and basketball games. However, Pariseau-Telge recommended removing admission fees for students.

Although there are 105 different teams across the city’s public high schools, several of those teams have limited rosters due to a lack of student signups, such as the one field hockey player from West or the one girls’ golf team member at Central.

At the middle school level, there are only 32 teams across the district’s four schools, with a lack of high school feeder programs in several sports and a lack of out-of-town competition in other sports.

According to testimony at the meeting, several teams also use uniforms not intended for their sport, with some becoming so worn down that their numbers are no longer visible. Other teams have players at the high school level who have never participated in the sport before and lacking basic equipment like socks facing off against players from other towns with years of experience.

Coaching stipends are also lower than nearby districts, with Pariseau-Telge comparing Manchester to Londonderry, which has $60,000 more in stipends for its various coaches.

The lack of middle school and elementary school feeder programs has created a competitiveness gap in most sports for Manchester teams, with Pariseau-Telge saying many parents blame coaches rather than the lack of development for poor performance at the high school level. That stress along with the low stipends leads to low coach retention rates and difficulty attracting new coaches, exasperating the competitiveness problem.

Bill Whitmore, an athletic director in Bedford and Concord as well as a coach at the collegiate level, told the committee that he believes Pariseau-Telge’s budget requests are appropriate, adding that a secretary is needed to run an NHIAA Division I athletic program, let alone multiple programs.

“If you want excellence, you have to put your money where your mouth is,” he said.

McLaughlin Middle School Principal William Krantz also supported the recommendations, hearkening back to his time as a student-athlete in Manchester. Krantz said basketball gave him a reason to continue coming to school.

“(Sports) helps us celebrate our young people and gives them options to grow their own confidence and grit,” he said.

Members of the committee agreed with the assessment, with several members indicating that the limited investment in athletics is part of an endemic underinvestment in Manchester’s public schools as a whole, also agreeing with Krantz’ statements around the importance of sports for a well-rounded education and as a way to support at-risk youth.”

“We don’t just need kids who can read and write, but well-rounded citizens and part of that comes from athletics,” said Ward 7 BOSC Member Chris Potter.

No action was taken on the athletic budget recommendations, as the presentation was intended for informational purposes only at this time.

Later in the meeting, the committee moved to table discussion on transportation costs given rising budgets related to Title I and students who fall under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act, some of whom are traveling from as far away as Tewksbury, Mass. and Rochester daily to Manchester schools.

MSD Transportation Coordinator Kelly O’Brien Hebert said this came in part due to assessments and federal guidelines requiring students to continue enrollment in a certain school where they once lived if it is in their best interests, even if they no longer live in that location.

The committee refused to consider the options of not providing transportation for students living two miles from a school, eliminating transportation options for high school students or re-establishing bus fees for high school students as cost-saving measures. However, the committee and O’Brien Hebert agreed that the status quo is financially untenable,

O’Brien Hebert said it would actually be cheaper to pay the rent of some families than continue to provide them with daily transportation from certain areas. BOSC Vice Chair Jim O’Connell went further, calculating that it would be cheaper for the district to give a family a check for $2 million than continue the current long-distance transportation practices for a student that stays within the district for 13 years of education.

The item is expected to be brought back on the docket in December, with the committee requesting more options from O’Brien Hebert.

Disclosure: The author of this article has refereed regular season sporting events at public schools in Manchester over the past year. NHIAA officials are paid in regular-season events by school districts where they officiate.