APS budget cuts - no MS sports or extracurriculars

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Actually there are no cut sports in swimming, diving, and track as well as ultimate. Plus clubs that teachers get money to sponsor. It’s definitely valuable and if you say it’s not it’s because you have no MS kids.

Swimming. DIVING??? Again Unless a kid has had lots of private lessons, they will be floundering in the water.

Sure track. Running kids in a circle. Great.

At Gunston diving was no cut and the rule was "you have to be willing to jump in the water."

Right. But to be able to SWIM well enough to not be terrified to jump in the water, parents have to have already paid for lessons. Where would they have learned to swim well enough to feel safe on 12 ft tank??

They teach you to swim if you join the swim team (also a no cut sport). These aren’t elite sports here. Why not trim down highschool activities and at least offer after school clubs for middle school (if you have to cut the team sports that’s fine, but cutting after school activities altogether is a bad idea).

That must be a joy for a middle schooler, to be learning to swim like a toddler in front of all your classmates.

And I know that was never communicated, that the would teach you to swim. Nothing I saw said anything like that. The elementary swimming lessons are basically anti-drowning learn to tread water, not real swim lessons.

OMG. Take your kid to the pool when they’re little and sign them up for swim lessons. It isn’t that hard.

So just because some parents don’t teach their kids to swim when little, we must abandon swim teams for all? Give me a break.

FFS. My point is swimming was the “no cut” sports but in reality it require prior experience. Schools need more no cut sports like soccer and basketball and volleyballl, where kids can learn to play without the indignity of nearly drowning.

Swimming is an essential skill. You don’t need to know how to do butterfly beautifully, but learning to not drown is critical.

I don’t disagree. They should be teaching more in elementary. Middle school swim team is not the place to learn.

They need many more no cut sports otherwise it’s an exclusive club for experienced kids on taxpayer dime.

No, I mean parents should take it more seriously. It shouldn’t be up to schools to teach children how to swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have any of you ever been to an APS middle school swim meet? I have! The teams are full of kids who can barely swim. It's beautiful. It really is a no-cut sport and should be kept.

I’m not saying to get rid of swimming. I’m saying it’s place as one of only 3 no cut sports is inadequate. Swimming. Track (running in circle). Frisbee. That’s it.

Come on now. Not everyone gets to make the basketball (or whatever) team. It’s a good lesson to learn. That’s how the adult world works.

[Anonymous]

Being a part of a school team or sport or club is one of life's joys and should be accessible to more people, especially middle schoolers. I wish they had a 6th grade team, a 7th grade team, and an 8th grade team for all the sports. We need to fund more, not less. We should also offer cross-country as a middle school sport. It costs almost nothing to offer it, and everyone can do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being a part of a school team or sport or club is one of life's joys and should be accessible to more people, especially middle schoolers. I wish they had a 6th grade team, a 7th grade team, and an 8th grade team for all the sports. We need to fund more, not less. We should also offer cross-country as a middle school sport. It costs almost nothing to offer it, and everyone can do it.

But that would be unfair to the out-of-shape kids that don’t have the stamina to run long distances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have any of you ever been to an APS middle school swim meet? I have! The teams are full of kids who can barely swim. It's beautiful. It really is a no-cut sport and should be kept.

I’m not saying to get rid of swimming. I’m saying it’s place as one of only 3 no cut sports is inadequate. Swimming. Track (running in circle). Frisbee. That’s it.

Come on now. Not everyone gets to make the basketball (or whatever) team. It’s a good lesson to learn. That’s how the adult world works.

Middle school sports is not the place to teach that lesson. The lessons that most kids that age hear is "you're not good enough, you're not athletic, sports aren't for you, why did you even bother." It's the opposite of what we want to be teaching kids, which are things like -- you can try something new and learn how to do new things, you can get along with the kinds of people you wouldn't normally be friends with, its OK to compete against other teams and lose sometimes -- along with just giving them something to do outside of school that is positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have any of you ever been to an APS middle school swim meet? I have! The teams are full of kids who can barely swim. It's beautiful. It really is a no-cut sport and should be kept.

I’m not saying to get rid of swimming. I’m saying it’s place as one of only 3 no cut sports is inadequate. Swimming. Track (running in circle). Frisbee. That’s it.

If you include intramurals there are several no cut sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have any of you ever been to an APS middle school swim meet? I have! The teams are full of kids who can barely swim. It's beautiful. It really is a no-cut sport and should be kept.

I’m not saying to get rid of swimming. I’m saying it’s place as one of only 3 no cut sports is inadequate. Swimming. Track (running in circle). Frisbee. That’s it.

Come on now. Not everyone gets to make the basketball (or whatever) team. It’s a good lesson to learn. That’s how the adult world works.

Middle school sports is not the place to teach that lesson. The lessons that most kids that age hear is "you're not good enough, you're not athletic, sports aren't for you, why did you even bother." It's the opposite of what we want to be teaching kids, which are things like -- you can try something new and learn how to do new things, you can get along with the kinds of people you wouldn't normally be friends with, its OK to compete against other teams and lose sometimes -- along with just giving them something to do outside of school that is positive.

MS is the perfect time to teach these lessons. Just because you don’t excel in one area doesn’t mean you can’t find your niche. It’s really ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have any of you ever been to an APS middle school swim meet? I have! The teams are full of kids who can barely swim. It's beautiful. It really is a no-cut sport and should be kept.

I’m not saying to get rid of swimming. I’m saying it’s place as one of only 3 no cut sports is inadequate. Swimming. Track (running in circle). Frisbee. That’s it.

Come on now. Not everyone gets to make the basketball (or whatever) team. It’s a good lesson to learn. That’s how the adult world works.

Middle school sports is not the place to teach that lesson. The lessons that most kids that age hear is "you're not good enough, you're not athletic, sports aren't for you, why did you even bother." It's the opposite of what we want to be teaching kids, which are things like -- you can try something new and learn how to do new things, you can get along with the kinds of people you wouldn't normally be friends with, its OK to compete against other teams and lose sometimes -- along with just giving them something to do outside of school that is positive.

This. This is why they shouldn’t cut middle school sports. It gets ultra competitive in Arlington’s high school. Give kids this chance to try something out. Especially those kids who don’t have parents ferrying them everywhere for club sports. Equity and opportunity are the most compelling reasons to keep middle school sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have any of you ever been to an APS middle school swim meet? I have! The teams are full of kids who can barely swim. It's beautiful. It really is a no-cut sport and should be kept.

I’m not saying to get rid of swimming. I’m saying it’s place as one of only 3 no cut sports is inadequate. Swimming. Track (running in circle). Frisbee. That’s it.

Come on now. Not everyone gets to make the basketball (or whatever) team. It’s a good lesson to learn. That’s how the adult world works.

Middle school sports is not the place to teach that lesson. The lessons that most kids that age hear is "you're not good enough, you're not athletic, sports aren't for you, why did you even bother." It's the opposite of what we want to be teaching kids, which are things like -- you can try something new and learn how to do new things, you can get along with the kinds of people you wouldn't normally be friends with, its OK to compete against other teams and lose sometimes -- along with just giving them something to do outside of school that is positive.

+1000

This stuff matters so much in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Seriously. It’s so unfair how only privileged white people make it in the NBA and NFL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have any of you ever been to an APS middle school swim meet? I have! The teams are full of kids who can barely swim. It's beautiful. It really is a no-cut sport and should be kept.

I’m not saying to get rid of swimming. I’m saying it’s place as one of only 3 no cut sports is inadequate. Swimming. Track (running in circle). Frisbee. That’s it.

Come on now. Not everyone gets to make the basketball (or whatever) team. It’s a good lesson to learn. That’s how the adult world works.

Middle school sports is not the place to teach that lesson. The lessons that most kids that age hear is "you're not good enough, you're not athletic, sports aren't for you, why did you even bother." It's the opposite of what we want to be teaching kids, which are things like -- you can try something new and learn how to do new things, you can get along with the kinds of people you wouldn't normally be friends with, its OK to compete against other teams and lose sometimes -- along with just giving them something to do outside of school that is positive.

This. This is why they shouldn’t cut middle school sports. It gets ultra competitive in Arlington’s high school. Give kids this chance to try something out. Especially those kids who don’t have parents ferrying them everywhere for club sports. Equity and opportunity are the most compelling reasons to keep middle school sports.

Agree but its just as competitive on some MS teams. Most MS soccer teams are all travel players

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously. It’s so unfair how only privileged white people make it in the NBA and NFL.

You are hilarious. I just want kids to have a chance to play on a team with school mates, after school rather than having to ferry around the county.

Now the limits shut out huge swaths of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously. It’s so unfair how only privileged white people make it in the NBA and NFL.

You are hilarious. I just want kids to have a chance to play on a team with school mates, after school rather than having to ferry around the county.

Now the limits shut out huge swaths of kids.

If lack of access to sports were an actual problem, we would only see privileged white men in the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Come on now.

“But only the kids who have parents that cart them around to club sports maaaaaaaaake it.”

Um, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously. It’s so unfair how only privileged white people make it in the NBA and NFL.

You are hilarious. I just want kids to have a chance to play on a team with school mates, after school rather than having to ferry around the county.

Now the limits shut out huge swaths of kids.

It’s fine to want that, but you need to pay for it yourself rather than expect everyone else to fund it.

[Anonymous]

Is APS only looking at cutting sports, are they cutting all MS clubs? Will this include things like after school theater productions? Robotics and math clubs? Odyssey of the Mind? Model United Nations?