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“S.O.S.: Support Our Students” Rally asking the board to not make $1 million in proposed cuts before the school board meeting at Elizabethtown Area High School Tuesday March 22, 2022.
“S.O.S.: Support Our Students” Rally asking the board to not make $1 million in proposed cuts before the school board meeting at Elizabethtown Area High School Tuesday March 22, 2022.
In the opening minutes of Tuesday’s meeting of the Elizabethtown Area School District school board, the board performed an utterly uncontroversial function: recognizing the E-town High School students honored as March Students of the Month by the Elizabethtown Rotary Club.
They are Makenna Locke and Tristan Lentz, whose extracurricular activities match their curricular ones.
Locke is a National AP Scholar. She is also concertmaster for the school orchestra, and a member of the school’s bowling and lacrosse teams.
Lentz, who plans to major in Sports, Art, and Entertainment Management at Point Park College, is a member of the marching band, involved in the theater program, and plays on the volleyball team.
The connection between the classroom and student activities was, at least formally, in danger of being severed at the meeting, where the board considered, but then chose not to consider, a list of potential areas for budget cuts provided by the school’s administration.
The administration has not recommended any of the cuts, a sentiment shared by E-town athletes before and during the meeting.
“This is the reason why a lot of us come to school,’’ Ryan Corwin, a junior cheerleader, said during a protest in front of the school before the meeting.
“There’s the whole rule where if you don’t come to school, you can’t go to practice and that is literally the reason why a lot of people get up in the morning.’’
The protesters seemed like a largely arts-and-music crowd early on. Spring-sports practices were still under way on the school’s fields and courts.
A man with a trumpet did play, “On Wisconsin,’’ the familiar football fight song.
Eventually, some of the school’s athletes strolled over, grabbed signs and joined the protest.
“Sports means a lot to me,’’ said Steven McDonald, a freshman wrestler and track athlete. “All my friends and connections are through sports. I enjoy them, and I don’t want to see them go.’’
McDonald said the controversy has been a topic of conversation among his friends.
“Everybody I know wants the taxes to stay,’’ he said, before realizing that may not be quite the right phrasing.
“They all want to see our sports kept,’’ he added.
Once the meeting began, a group of athletes, including basketball-star brothers Patrick and Matthew Gilhool, walked in, sat in the back row of the auditorium, and applauded the speakers in opposition to the cuts.
“It’s been the talk of the school,’’ said Matt Gilhool, a sophomore. “A lot of people are unhappy about the idea that they could take away stuff.’’
“It takes away a lot from school,’’ said Patrick, a senior. “It won’t affect me, but these guys, … it will affect you.’’
“It’s crazy,’’ said Brady Moran, a freshman football and baseball player. “I couldn’t imagine high school without sports.’’
“I know, … Friday night lights,’’ Patrick Gilhool said. “It brings the community together.’’
All the athletes agree on one thing that research and data overwhelmingly indicates: Athletes tend to do better in school when their sports are in season.
“No question,’’ Patrick Gilhool said. “It makes you want to show up, and it keeps you centered.’’
“A majority of my friends are going to college for sports,” said Keren Ezedebgo, a junior basketball player. “Some of them can’t afford college without sports.”
“It gives you that drive,’’ Corwin said. “It gives us something to look forward to.”
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