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Activities director: 1,768 students participated in 2023–24; officials and transportation costs rising
Summary
Activities Director Dale Gunderson told the Grand Rapids Public School District board that 1,768 students participated in athletics during the 2023–24 school year, coaches must meet training requirements, emergency plans are in place and costs for officials and transportation are rising sharply.
Dale Gunderson, activities director for the Grand Rapids Public School District, told the school board the district’s athletics program served 1,768 student-athletes in the 2023–24 school year and remains “an extension of the classroom.”
Gunderson said the total counts reflect only athletics and do not include student council, prom, BPA, FFA, band, choir, speech or drama. “The number of students impacted by our department is, is 1,768 total,” he said.
The activities program covers Grand Rapids and Bigfork high schools and Robert J. Elkington Middle School. Gunderson told the board the district fields roughly 71 teams in Grand Rapids and 10 at Bigfork, plus band, choir, speech and drama, and that booster clubs fund many assistant-coach stipends. He said the district maintains head-coach files and that head coaches must meet qualification and continuing-education requirements, file a philosophy/mission statement and communicate program expectations to parents.
Gunderson described safety and planning requirements: emergency action plans for every venue covering ambulance response, tornado and active-shooter scenarios, annual practice of plans and formal coach observations on a three-year cycle. He also said parents complete surveys by sport (he sends them at the end of the season).
On academics, Gunderson cited grade-point averages for student-athletes by season: “Our fall students are 3.29 grade point average cumulative. Our winter is 3.214, and our spring is 3.398,” figures he said apply to athletics only and do not include other co-curricular activities.
On finances, Gunderson presented revenue and expenditure breakdowns showing participant fees, admission fees and local donations as revenue sources and salaries/benefits, officials and transportation among expenditures. He told the board the district has comparatively low general-fund support for activities among peer districts. He warned officials’ pay and travel costs are rising sharply: “our cost of officials goes up, you know, 10 to 15 to 20% a year in some sports,” he said, and noted the district hires roughly 700 officials across its programs and that mileage reimbursements add cost.
Gunderson said the district works to recruit and develop local officials and game workers to reduce travel and mileage costs and that some officials are long-serving volunteers. He also thanked transportation, maintenance and building administrative staff for their work supporting athletics.
Board members thanked Gunderson for the report and asked follow-up questions about year-to-year donation spikes and Bigfork participation declines; Gunderson said he would follow up with staff for specifics.
Gunderson closed by reiterating the department’s purpose: “we plan to win. We play to win, but our purpose is teaching and learning, human growth and development and connecting students to caring adults.”
The board did not take a formal vote on the report; it was received for discussion.
