There was a consensus of the Board to add "Commissioners' Comments" to respond and discuss the public comments.
Commissioner Thompson thanked the parents for being there and speaking up for their children. She said she played softball, and her children played sports. Commissioner Thompson inquired if this should be an agenda item because the Parks and Recreation Department was not treated the same when it came to budgeting. She said she never wanted children to be unable to play sports.
Commissioner Lashley thanked the parents for coming out to speak. He said the Parks and Recreation Director was in attendance at the meeting to hear all of the comments. He thanked Corrie Shepherd for coming to speak out about ABSS. He said he wished the Board of Education and school administration cared more about student scores than the peripheral stuff.
Commissioner Turner thanked the parents and Corrie Shepherd for coming out to speak. He said reducing the amount of competition in sports was inconsistent with the board's policy and work. He mentioned the Board had worked to bring three fields up to measure for teams to play ball at those fields. He asked if there was enough time by the next meeting to review the policy and decide what would affect those games.
Vice-Chair Carter said he played sports and coached soccer. He agreed this was something the Board needed to look at.
Chairman Paisley said he had coached soccer for 18 seasons and softball for 10 years. He thanked Corrie Shepherd for attending the meeting. He said that ABSS had rushed through voting on the Title IX Policy without having two readings. He mentioned that the school board attorney was at the meeting via the telephone and he had encouraged the school board to vote. Chairman Paisley said he hoped the school board would go back and review their decision.
Chairman Paisley called Jamie Merchel, Alamance Parks Director, to the podium to explain this new reorganization of the collaborative league. She shared that in speaking with her staff there would be the same number of guaranteed games for this year as it was last season. She continued that there was one less organization participating this year. Ms. Merchel explained there were five regular conference games where each team played each other, followed by a single elimination playoff game and then the championship game. She noted there were fewer regular conference games because there was one less participating organization. Ms. Merchel advised there was nothing that could be done about the schedule because it was a collaborative league between Alamance Parks, the City of Mebane, and the Town of Gibsonville. She noted that the league season started on September 9th, and the two municipalities play in this league, and they have to be finished before their basketball season begins in November. She said an eight-game season, including playoffs and a championship, would run into November, possibly December.
Ms. Merchel addressed the rumors of the elimination of football. She explained that her department's budget was going towards tackle football, baseball, softball and basketball. She said they were looking at creative ways with the Recreation and Parks Commission to use the budget to offer more. Ms. Merchel indicated that her department provided surveys after every season of sports and they had been looking at ways to address the concerns about travel time and locations. She suggested having her staff come to a future meeting to present the plan for youth athletics.
It was a consensus of the Board for Ms. Merchel and her staff to come back to the second meeting in September for a more detailed presentation on youth athletics.