Veteran coach urges SHARYLAND ISD to restore sponsor positions and consult extracurricular leaders before budget cuts

Ann Marie Priolo, a teacher with decades of experience in the district, told trustees that recent and proposed reductions to sponsor and coach support threaten extracurricular programs that she said are essential to the district’s mission to “inspire, educate and empower.”

Priolo, who identified her address and said she has taught in the district more than 30 years, described an increase in responsibilities and paperwork for volunteer sponsors and said several programs have lost sponsors or are operating with vacancies. She said North Junior High has seven vacant sponsor slots and that events such as chess tournaments and UIL meets require volunteer leadership that is now harder to secure.

“Not only do I coach, I'm opening my classroom at least 30 weeks out of the year. I prepare for the tournaments. I do all the registrations. We are our own coordinators,” Priolo said. She asked trustees to consult the stakeholders who run extracurricular activities before cutting stipends or eliminating sponsor support, to reconsider minimums that deny helpers for events with fewer than a specified number of participants, and to account for the non‑monetary costs borne by volunteers.

Priolo noted that the district recently increased meet stipends to allow payment for two events in a day but said other issues remain, including recruitment and retention of sponsors, paperwork burdens and low overtime/stipend rates. “The last people that you should be cutting back on is them,” she told the board.

Trustees did not take immediate action on Priolo’s request during the meeting. Her remarks were entered into the public record; administrators and trustees acknowledged them and did not announce follow‑up steps during the session.