Administrators at Deering and Portland high schools began cutting paid assistant coaching positions this week to meet guidelines to stay within this year's school budget.
In July, Superintendent Mary Jo O'Connor announced a plan to cut $153,000 from the district's $1.3 million sports budget, including the elimination of at least 12 assistant coaching positions. The alternative was to charge a student activity fee or eliminate sports programs.
Cuts also will be made at the city's three middle schools to bring the budget in line with spending levels set by the City Council in May.
"Every sports program in the city of Portland has been affected by this," said Deering football coach Greg Stilphen, who will lose a paid assistant coaching position.
During the 2006-07 school year, each school had about 20 coaches working in a given season, each of whom receive a "differential" – essentially a stipend. Stilphen estimated his staff's differentials to be about $4,000; according to the Portland Schools' human resources department, a coaching differential can vary depending on the sport.
Rich Drummond, the athletic and co-curricular director at Portland High, said athletic cuts have been determined in regards to staffing and he was in the process of informing assistant coaches who would not return for this school year.
"It's been a difficult process for all involved," Drummond said. "When you're under tough times and tough decisions are made, it's going to affect a wide variety of people."
Drummond would not elaborate on the budget cuts at Portland High. But he said, "It's going to be a good amount of assistants. We want to move as quickly as possible but we want to take the proper steps to inform people and move appropriately."
Principal Ken Kunin said Deering will cut 13 assistant coaching positions for the school year, shrinking the school's coaching staff to 47.
"These are excruciating," Kunin said of the cuts. "None of us are happy about needing to do this."
Also, sub-varsity teams will play shorter schedules this school year, presumably to decrease travel costs.
"We made cuts that didn't eliminate any sport or team, which was very difficult to do," Kunin said. "But while we're cutting, we're trying to be even across the board and make sure an integrity of a full season in every sport is maintained."
In the 2006-07 school year, Portland High had a staff of six football coaches and Deering five. Like Stilphen's staff at Deering, Portland football coach Mike Bailey said his staff lost a paid assistant coaching position.
Administrators anticipated boys' and girls' soccer, indoor track and lacrosse would be the hardest hit. Last year the Portland and Deering boys' and girls' soccer programs each had six coaches; the indoor track programs each had four. The boys' and girls' lacrosse programs each had six coaches.
Carroll Nappi, the Portland cross country and track coach, said he lost three assistant coaches – two in outdoor track and one in indoor track.
"How do you spread yourself out to work with all the kids?" Nappi asked. "Do you give them an itinerary to (practice)? And will it get done? It's basically about supervision, and they are always preaching about safety and liability, but how do you cover yourself with that?
Coaches and administrators are exploring options to maintain previous staffing levels. Some coaches may volunteer to work with high school teams, contingent upon meeting coaching guidelines in health and safety training, and other coaching staffs may opt to split stipends between coaches. Others hope that booster programs may be able to absorb costs related to a sports program.
"Now we need to look at alternative options," Stilphen said. "Now the question...
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