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Parent urges district to restore middle-school strength-and-conditioning program and access to high-school facilities
Summary
A parent and coach asked the board to restore middle-school strength-and-conditioning offerings, requested transportation solutions to allow middle-schoolers to access high-school coaches and urged filling the River Bluff weight-room space promised in the referendum.
Jeremy Donahue, a parent, educator and coach, told the Stoughton Area School District board he is concerned the district no longer offers strength-and-conditioning as an option for middle-school students and that the absence of the program has left families paying private trainers.
"We were seeing great results in physical development ... and our families were extremely happy with the opportunities provided. Fast forward to today, and we no longer offer strength and conditioning at the middle school, and we haven't for 5 years," Donahue said. He added that the average cost to families for private training is "about $200 a month," a price he said many families cannot afford.
Donahue described a short-term arrangement in which high-school strength coaches have opened the weight room three times a week to eighth graders, and he asked the district to allow students to ride buses to the high school or issue bus passes rather than requiring parents to follow buses in cars. He also said a weight room at River Bluff that was promised in the referendum currently sits unused and contains dilapidated equipment, and he asked the district to consult coaches and PE staff about making the space functional.
Board members did not take formal action during public comment. The board recorded Donahue's request and did not make an immediate assignment in the meeting minutes; staff follow-up on the transportation and equipment status was discussed informally.
