CHS AD addresses budget concerns, new Hockomock League members

It will be an interesting year for CHS Athletic Director Danny Erickson as he works with School Committee members to revise the athletic budget and awaits the ramifications of the Hockomock League adding two more members — Taunton and Milford — beginning next year (2012) for all sports.

When the school budget debates and discussions ended last school year, the School Committee decided to finance all sports teams, including freshmen and junior varsity teams, but to hike the user fee for each sport from $125 to $195 with a family cap of $780. The committee also established an additional surcharge of $250 for hockey players and $50 for swimmers to help offset pool and rink costs.

Hockey players will pay a total of $445 to suit up for the Bulldogs this season.

Erickson repeated this week what he had said during the budget discussions in the spring — that the current athletic programs at CHS are not sustainable given the budget allocation.

“Given the size of the school, the size of enrollment, unless there are changes in how it is funded either publicly or privately, I can’t see how we continue on,” Erickson said.

“We can’t continue to spend like Franklin,” he added, referring to a fellow Hockomock school with similar offerings but a lot more revenue to work with.

Erickson believes that Canton will either have to “trim down” its athletic offerings or find new revenue sources, either from the school side or from private funding — although he wonders, given the state of the economy, to what extent area businesses will be able to support the athletic programs.

Erickson said raising the athletic fee is not the solution and remains very troubled that Canton had to substantially raise its fee this year. He is not anticipating a dramatic drop in sports participation because he believes that “somehow Canton families will find a way to come up with the money.”

Erickson is part of a newly formed subcommittee that is examining all athletic and extracurricular programs and will make a full, detailed report to the School Committee later this year.

Regarding the addition of two new teams to the league, Erickson said enrollment data this year will determine whether Taunton and Milford are added to the small (Davenport) or large school (Kelly Rex) divisions. Last year, the league added Attleboro to the Kelly Rex division, thereby giving both divisions five teams.

One definite impact of the expansion will be less scheduling of non-league opponents. Erickson said the best-case scenario for Canton is the continuation of the five-member small and large school divisions and the ability to schedule non-league games. This spring, all CHS teams qualified for the playoffs, which marked the best collective finish for the school since Erickson became athletic director eight years ago.

In other sports news, Erickson has appointed Ben Mattson, who already heads the CHS girls’ indoor and outdoor track program, to be the head girls’ cross country coach in place of Peter Boucher, who is now the interim principal at the Hansen School.

Erickson also expects to begin the process of appointing a new head girls’ varsity basketball coach to replace Kaitlin Mills, who has informed Erickson that she is stepping down after two years.

Erickson will soon be calling a meeting for the parents of all athletes — an annual event that is currently set for September 22 to discuss program policies. Among the topics to be covered are the new procedures for athletes recovering from concussions. Erickson said Canton has been at the forefront of a policy of not allowing athletes to return until cleared by a medical doctor.

Impact tests measuring brain activity at the start of the season were first administered to football, lacrosse and hockey players last year, and plans are in place to test soccer, field hockey and basketball players this year.

Erickson said he is excited about the upcoming athletic year and hopes that Canton can reclaim the Hockomock League Sportsmanship Award, last won by CHS three years ago.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Aug 31 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.