Upgrading athletic facilities, requiring 9th graders to be on a team or club, reviving intramurals, and amending eligibility policies are among a task force’s suggestions for boosting Rome students’ participation in sports and other extracurricular activities.
Recommendations also include sports "recruitment fairs" at schools, restoring leadership training courses for coaches, late bus runs after practices and away games, and programs to recognize individual athletes and fans.
Findings were presented to the Board of Education Wednesday night by school district Athletic Director Michael Stamboly, stemming from the task force of district and community representatives that was formed last December. Recommendations will be reviewed further, and Superintendent Jeffrey P. Simons said some of the steps may be in place when a new school year begins in September.
Stamboly’s report also included results of a survey of Rome Free Academy and Strough Middle School students regarding sports teams and other extracurriculars. Among RFA responses, about 37 percent said "yes" when asked whether coaches were fair and impartial when picking teams, 22 percent said "no", and the remainder were not involved in a sport. Regarding whether all ethnic groups are treated equally, 59 percent said "yes" and 41 percent said "no." For other extracurricular activities students would like to see offered, the categories included drama, theater and dance.
The task force was formed to address a perceived connection between lack of athletic/extracurricular involvement and less scholastic achievement, which district representatives have said can contribute to students drifting toward such problems as drug and alcohol abuse.
Among recommendations:
¿ For facilities, "build a second multi-purpose turf field, replacement of the existing turf field with a new artificial turf, expand the weight room, resurface the track at the stadium, and resurface the tennis courts at the high school."
¿ For incoming 9th graders, "a mandatory policy...that they must choose to be part of a team and or club program in the first year."
¿ Reviving intramurals could involve each K-4 elementary school, plus Staley Upper Elementary School and Strough.
¿ Revising the academic eligibility policy would "retain kids throughout the school year...keeping them connected and part of something they love to do."
¿ Recruitment fairs at both elementary and secondary levels could "set up tables that advertise all sports offered....Entice students to get involved and get name recognition out."
¿ Looking into costs for late bus runs could "allow a means of transportation for many of our student/athletes who otherwise would have no way of getting home" from practices and away games.
¿ Establishing "Athlete of the Week" and "Fan of the Year" awards would help promote interest and involvement.
RFA’s enrollment includes 86 percent white, 7 percent African-American, and 5 percent Hispanic/Latino, Stamboly reported. For grades 7-12, 52 percent of African-American students participated in a sport in 2011-12, compared to 65 percent of total students in those grades, he said. Total enrollment estimates were 1,612 for RFA and 787 for Strough.
The RFA population is changing, and will become "very much like Syracuse and Utica" with more "internationals...moving into the city," said Otis Jennings, an educational consultant and motivational speaker who has been involved with the district. Besides working with coaches on ways to improve student participation, he cited "issues of poverty" and "larger issues" that need to be addressed.
Jennings also observed that Strough students were "very optimistic" in survey responses, and urged the district to "build on that....Don’t kill those dreams."
The "numbers are up" this year in participation on sports teams, said Stamboly, noting an "ebb and flow" from year to year. He did add that involvement in football is becoming more difficult, as increased national data on concussions has made parents "leery." But board member Louis Daniello emphasized the district takes "every precaution" including the top equipment available, and Stamboly outlined the district’s advances in monitoring students for potential concussions.
