Leading off today: While the budget for the upcoming year will be the focus of most school district votes next week, a high school with a storied basketball history may be on the brink of extinction.

   The single-school Bridgehapmton district has seemingly been just hanging on for several years, and voters will cast ballots in a school board election that could reshape the future of the 148 students in grades K through 12.

   According to Newsday , Joseph Conti, Laurie Gordon and Nathaniel Ludlow are running on a platform of phasing out the high school grades and tuitioning the students into Sag Harbor, East Hampton or Southampton.

   "I'd love to see the quality of education improve," said Gordon, whose two daughters attend the private Ross School in East Hampton. "It's such a small school, you're only able to do so much for a well-rounded education."

   The opposition says the real motive is to close the entire district to save tax money for those who don't use the public school system.

   And hanging in the balance is the once-proud boys basketball program. The "Killer Bees" own eight New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, all earned bwteeen 1978 and 1998. They play on a home court so small that referees have to step outside to change a call -- the three-point line intersects the sideline six feet from the corner.

   "You're talking about getting rid of one of the best high school basketball programs around," coach Carl Johnson said.

   Say what? The discussion continues regarding recent happenings at Queensbury High, where a lacrosse player was thrown off the team after allegedly hiding his March arrest from his parents (his father coaches the team).

   Will Doolittle, projects editor at The Post-Star, blogged on the subject yesterday and took note of the code of conduct agreements that athletes at many schools must sign in order to play sports.

   "Drinking a beer won't kill a 17-year-old kid, and scoring a goal won't guarantee their happiness," he wrote.

   "Demonizing the one and glorifying the other knocks out of kilter our kids' natural sense of perspective and contributes to teen problems like binge drinking and athletic burnout. Too often, our participation in student athletics -- as coaches, parents and fans -- lacks moderation. That tendency toward extremism extends to these good conduct contracts that public schools require kids to sign before they can kick a ball or shoot one or run toward a goal line."

   Though the player was cited for marijuana possession, Doolittle says the charge is a noncriminal violation on the level of a speeding ticket -- a type of transgression that would have had no effect on his athletic eligibility.

   I give Doolittle points for recognizing that seemingly contradictory approach to discipline, but writing that "drinking a beer won't kill a 17-year-old kid" seems out of bounds because even noncriminal violations have a pecking order: Speeding will only get you ticketed in most jurisdictions, but an open container of alcohol or the presence of pot in a car earns you a trip to the police station, from where you can summon someone who is not under the influence to come drive you home.

   A lapse of judgment that serious probably should trigger a suspension from sports -- an extracurricular activity, not a right -- as both a wake-up call to the offender and a reminder to other students, regardless of what sort of discipline he also faces at home. Compounding the problem by hiding the arrest from school authorities, whose duties include guarding the well-being of our children seven hours a day and 180 days a year, took the offense to a level where kicking him off the team seems reasonable.

   Sixteen-run lead holds up . . . barely: Grand Island and Kenmore East combined for 35 hits on Thursday as the Vikings earned a 19-14 baseball victory.

   That in itself was an attention-getter, but what made the final score more interesting was Kenmore East's near-epic rally after Grand Island scored six runs in the first inning, two in the second and a total of nine more in the next two innings for a 17-1 lead.

   The Bulldogs chipped away to cut the deficit to 18-7 through five innings, then batted around in the sixth and cut it to 18-14.

   Click here for some of the blow-by-blow from the Niagara Gazette.

   Teaming up: The Post-Star did a nice story yesterday in advance of the Queensbury vs. Glens Falls girls lacrosse game. The schools held a joint pre-game ceremony to honor a player from each team -- one in a wheelchair, the other walking with a cane.

   The two, Chelsey Capezzuti of Glens Falls and Jordana Mineo of Queensbury, were involved in a two-car, head-on collision March 15 on Route 9N that resulted in surgery and rehabilitation.

   Mineo landed in Glens Falls Hospital for a week and has been rehabbing since following knee surgery. Capezzuti was taken by helicopter to Albany Medical Center with multiple fractures in both legs and substantial blood loss. She underwent surgeries in Albany and then in Manhattan to reconstruct one of her knees.

   Both players have a long way to go but continue to recover.

   The helmet debate: WSYR-TV in Syracuse did an examination of head injuries in girls lacrosse recently and the debate over whether helmets need to be made mandatory for field players as the sport becomes increasingly athletic.

   The story centered on an extreme -- a player who sustained four concussions in about a year -- but the safety issue is a legitimate one.

   "What we know from a concussion and traumatic brain injury standpoint is that high school athletes are at greater risk. They take longer to recover and are more vulnerable to the effects of repeated concussions,” said Dr. Brian Rieger of the Central New York Sports Concussion Center at University Hospital.

   The argument against wearing helmets consists largely of concerns of the "NHL effect." Bad stick fouls seemed to increase when pro hockey mandated visored helmets, and the theory is that players became more reckless because they felt the added protection negated the risk.

   Milestones: Jenna Davis scored six goals, including one with 9:58 left to help give Levittown Division a 10-9 lacrosse win over Wantagh and push her to the 500-point mark for her career.

   C.G. Finney senior Ed Marchand's three-run double last weekend against Warsaw gave him the Section 5 record for career RBIs. He stands at 163, surpassing Marcus Way of Honeoye (159).

   Extra points: Kenny Betts of Fredonia will continue his wrestling career at the University of Buffalo. Betts is a two-time NYSPHSAA champion who concluded his six-year career as the state record holder in wins with a 269-37 record. . . . James Allen of The Times Union reports that Galway’s baseball season is over, with the club forfeiting its remaining games due to a lack of players. Injuries and suspensions, coupled with a small JV roster (10 players), made an attempt to continue playing impractical.