Wapato Schools Push Levy to Keep Sports

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Story Published: Feb 2, 2010 at 6:44 PM PDT

By Melissa Wagner

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Wapato - Sports are a key way to keeping kids out of trouble. And it's certainly the case in Wapato. But that's the program most in danger, if a levy there doesn't stay funded.

We've profiled a number of local districts. Today, Wapato students told us what it would mean to lose more from their sports programs.

"It's one way to get kids off the street, " said Hannah Cordova, a Senior at Wapato High.

Hannah is one of Wapato's star basketball players. The senior has played sports since kindergarten, and wants her younger siblings to have the same experience, " If they didn't have the same opportunities I had it would definitely affect them."

Just a year ago, Wapato Schools had $750,000 in its athletic budget. But state cuts forced the district to find ways to save more money.

" We cut about $75,000 off last year's budget, so we took a pretty big hit," said Don Erickson, Wapato Athletic Director and Assistant Principal.

Several teams in all sports were cut at the middle school level. Meaning dozens of students who want to participate... Simply can't. And at the high school, they pulled games out of the schedule to save on transportation costs.

Erickson knows what can happen if a levy doesn't pass. He saw it first hand in Yakima, " I was there when we failed levies two times. So we completely eliminated middle school sports for one year. We didn't offer anything."

And that, he said, will definitely have a negative impact on the student's grades and overall focus. He said, " Kids that are in these programs generally stay in school. Generally they have good grades, they're rarely disciplinary problems. Their attendance is up."


" One thing sports does is it builds character and helps us stay physically fit. At home I'd probably just be doing nothing. It helps me with my homework and good grades because I always want to play," said Angelo Perea, a Wapato High Junior.

And the Wapato School District is hoping to keep that option available to all its students.

The replacement levy is not just money for sports programs at Wapato schools. It also covers transportation, teacher salaries, books, technology and extra curricular activities like band and drama.

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