The impact of an Ohio school district's decision to cut sports (cont.)

Jeramie Stump (79) would have been the starting center this season at Grove City (Ohio) High. But since the school district canceled all extra-curricular activities, he has transferred to Grove City Christian, a nearby private school. Deidre Stump

Sturgell's former teammate, Jeramie Stump, now plays for Grove City Christian. Stump, a 6-foot-3, 273-pound center, chose the school because he felt it gave him the best chance to be seen by college recruiters. He put himself on the recruiting radar with impressive showings at several camps in the summer, and he is receiving attention from schools in all three NCAA divisions. He would love to play for a Mid-American Conference school such as Bowling Green, Toledo or Miami (Ohio), but to get noticed by those schools, he must play his senior season.

Stump considered some of the public schools that offered open enrollment, but he would have faced the same issues other South-Western refugees have faced. Would the team's starting lineup already be set? If he did win a starting job, would he be shunned by his new teammates for taking away a position from their friend?

Stump's mother, Deidre, recently began working again for the first time in seven months after getting laid off. She said she cashed in her retirement to pay her son's $5,000 tuition at the private school. She said moving wasn't an option; two houses on her street have been for sale for months without so much as a nibble.

Stump was one of a group of South-Western students who went door-to-door almost every day this summer trying to drum up support for the levy, which would have required homeowners to pay an additional $254 a year for every $100,000 of assessed value for the next four years. He was among the hundreds who crowded the Grove City Church of the Nazarene on Aug. 4 to await the result of the levy vote. When it was announced that the levy had failed by less than one percent, Stump couldn't believe his ears. Since elementary school, he'd only wanted to be a Dawg. He'd worked his way into the starting lineup for his senior year, and the season was canceled.

The next morning, Stump sat in the parking lot of the same church. On the football field next door, his first practice for Grove City Christian was about to begin. Before he joined his new team, Stump cried. The tears would roll again Aug. 29, when Stump took the field for Grove City Christian's season opener. "I should be focusing on my first game," Stump said, "and I broke down crying."

Others have stayed. Maggie Buechner, the president of the Central Crossing booster club, said her daughter, Julie, chose to stay for her senior year because she already has committed to play soccer at South Alabama. Mayers, who would have been Grove City's quarterback, already has committed to play baseball at Ole Miss. He said he could have played football somewhere else, but it wouldn't have been Grove City football. On that first Friday, Mayers attended the Teays Valley-Westfall game.

"I haven't been back to a game since," Mayers said. "The worst part about it isn't the fact that you're not playing. It's the fact that you've played all your life, and you didn't get to decide that you're not playing anymore. Somebody else decided you're not playing."

Since the last levy vote, school board members have softened their stance on participation fees. While they remain philosophically opposed, they see no other alternative. The question now is how much will after-school activities cost? Cathy Johnson, a retired elementary school teacher who now serves as school board president, said the board is examining possible pay-to-participate options. Some parents and coaches worry that the fees will be so high that many students won't return to the programs. In June, the school board in nearby Reynoldsburg approved a fee plan that asks high school athletes to pay $500 per sport with a $1,000 annual cap. Marching band members were charged $150 each.

Jordan, the Grove City football coach, has heard the conjecture that fees can be as high as $800 a sport. He hopes that isn't the case. "You're not going to have 105 kids coming out for that kind of money," he said. "It's going to devastate your program."

Levy opponent has been threatened

Of course, to institute a participation fee, the levy still has to pass in November. School board members have cut the millage rate for the November vote, but this levy would be permanent. The new levy proposal would require an additional $226.63 a year per $100,000 of assessed value and would raise an additional $18.5 million. Meanwhile, opponents of the levy have promised to fight even harder to defeat it

Terry Jones, the president of South-Western Alternative to Taxes, contends that school board members are trying to force voters to pass the tax by threatening to take away extra-curricular activities and high school busing. Those programs cost $2.5 million and $500,000, respectively; they account for about 1.6 percent of the district's $185 million budget. Jones believes board members picked those programs because sports and public safety issues tend to motivate the electorate. Jones argues that since more than 80 percent of the district's budget goes toward salaries and benefits, the district should ask labor unions for concessions to bring down the cost. Teachers already have accepted a freeze on raises, but teachers with up to 15 years' experience still receive an annual step increase in pay.

"We have the district telling the residents that we need to sacrifice to pass these levies," Jones said. "But yet we don't see those sacrifices coming from the district. The unions are not stepping up. They refuse to."

Though Jones has been painted as anti-student, he believes the students have been dragged into the middle of a political fight. "They have these T-shirts that say 'We Are the Levy'. They ought to change that word levy to leverage," Jones said. "We Are the Leverage."