Tehachapi News

KUSD to cut junior varsity athletics

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Even though it may not impact Tehachapi Unified School District directly, the implications will still sting for students participating in ninth, 10th and 11th grade athletics at Tehachapi High School.

Kern High School District, comprised of all Bakersfield High public schools and a handful of outlying communities, has proposed to eliminate junior varsity sports for the 2009-2010 school year.

The ramifications are significant. Bakersfield students that would have competed for a spot on the jayvee will now have to scramble for a roster position on the varsity or participate in a now congested frosh/soph level in each respective sport.

“In many ways we are fortunate (in Tehachapi) because we have competition from the southern section in pre-season and league teams that are not apart of KUSD,” said freshman football coach Bruce Schkade. “But we still feel for Bakersfield and the kids. Many of them will not get a chance to play next year.”

In the South Sequoia League, impacted KUSD schools set to lose their junior varsity program and compete with a lumped frosh/soph level include Shafter and Arvin. KUSD would save a total of $430,000 by cuting the JV program district-wide.

“When you look at our schedule, we could potentially lose freshmen games with Frontier, Arvin and Shafter, but the rest of the schedule is set with seven games,” said varsity football head coach Steve Denman. “Our junior varsity would still play 10 games during the season, playing each school’s bigger frosh/soph team if that’s all (that school) has.”

The fallout for Tehachapi would be lost games at the freshman level. Programs that would have a reduced schedule include boy’s freshman football, freshman girl’s volleyball, freshman girl’s basketball and boy’s freshman basketball.

“This will be an adjustment for us, but what we need to do is just continue to go about our business and prepare for the season,” added Schkade. “It’s a hard time right now for everyone, but we are fortunate that we have folks here in Tehachapi that give a lot of support and (are) willing to provide options for our kids and a chance to play.”

From the coaches’ standpoint, Tehachapi Unified could gain little by mirroring the cut proposal by KUSD, with the loss of only approximately $12,000 in total coaching stipends. Also a consideration is transportation costs, which has been proposed by the Warrior Boosters as a potential shared-cost with participating athletes and their parents if necessary.

“When you have a district that has nearly 30 schools like KUSD, it can make a difference financially to eliminate a level of sport. It makes sense for them,” added Denman. “For our district, when you look at the potential savings by cutting only four programs, it’s not significant. We can still have a competitive schedule at our lower levels if KUSD follows through with their decision.”

KUSD will officially vote on the proposal to cut their jayvee programs at a board meeting on July 2.