NYSSWA blog: Geneva proposes eliminating AD's job

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Leading off today: Athletic director duties in Geneva would be split between a teacher and several administrators under a cost-cutting measure in the proposed 2009-10 budget, The Finger Lakes Times reported yesterday.

On Wednesday, district Superintendent Robert Young rolled out a "worst case" plan for cutting $2.4 million from the budget that would keep taxes flat if there is no additional state aid forthcoming from Gov. David Paterson’s budget. Some 65.2 positions, nearly half of them teaching jobs, would be lost.

The position of AD now held by Dave Whitcomb (also the football coach, director of physical education and director of extracurricular activities), which pays $140,000, would be wiped out. Whitcomb's job would disappear in June, and he would be hired back at a $18,000 salary to continue through Jan. 1 to train his replacement, the paper reported.

Young estimated savings of $92,000 in the first year, and a district advisory committee has recommended adopting the plan. Young's formal recommendation to the school board is expected on April 6.

Merger in the works? Christian Brothers Academy in Albany and LaSalle Institute of Troy are weighing a merger because of the recent economic downturn, according to a joint letter released by the schools Thursday.

A letter mailed to CBA families said the boards of trustees have been informally discussing opportunities to share "collective strengths" and "collective potential," The Times Union reported. The letter from CBA Board of Trustees Chairman J. Timothy O'Hearn and La Salle Board Chairman David Stackrow says no decision has been made.

"Private schools, particularly Catholic schools are facing significant challenges," the letter states.

CBA and La Salle are both grade 6-12 all-male schools dating to the 19th century. Both are privately run, meaning they receive no funding from the Albany diocese.

Wis. association sues Gannett: The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is suing Gannett Co., Inc., whose holdings include several New York newspapers, asserting that it owns the rights to any "transmission, Internet stream, photo, image, film, videotape, audiotape, writing, drawing or other depiction or description of any game action, information or commercial

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use" of the athletic events hosted by member schools.

Editor & Publisher reports the lawsuit accuses the Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wis., of offering streaming video of a football playoff game last Nov. 8 between Stevens Point and Appelton North. The lawsuit was filed Dec. 5 in Portage County (Wisc.) Circuit Court, and the paper was served with court papers last week.

Peter Fox, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, told The Associated Press he did not expect a quick resolution of the dispute and termed the WIAA lawsuit an "uncomprehensible overreach." The WIAA declined comment.

"They are essentially saying all these news reporting products are subject to WIAA control," Fox said. "If Wisconsin weekly and daily newspapers go ahead and capture these athletic events in certain forms of blogging or video or still photography, (the WIAA is saying) that Wisconsin newspapers can't use them in certain circumstances and they are owned by the private vendors that the WIAA has selected."

Fox told the Appleton newspaper that most WIAA members are public schools and athletic tournaments are public events, so the association has no right to restrict media. The WIAA says its playoff games qualify as entertainment rather than news events and that it is protecting its rights deals with private businesses.

"We're concerned with the WIAA's efforts to commercialize hometown high school sports for its own purposes," said Fox, who represents about 240 dailies and weeklies in the state.

Interestingly, a forum thread on SportsJournalists.com, a popular site among newspaper reporters and sports editors, is mostly supportive of the WIAA. Several posts point out that college and professional leagues routinely impose TV, radio and Webcast restrictions to protect substantial rights fees they receive from broadcasters.