HOWELL — Interscholastic girls basketball will not be offered at Howell’s three middle schools this winter. Participation levels did not meet the minimum requirement (15 players) established by the Howell Police Athletic League (PAL), which is running the sports programs under a contract it was awarded by the Howell K-8 School District Board of Education.
The board is not paying PAL to run the sports programs.
According to PAL representative Joseph Fiore, the following interscholastic sports will be offered this winter:
• Boys basketball, wrestling and cheerleading at Howell Memorial Middle School.
• Boys basketball, wrestling and cheerleading at Howell Middle School South.
• Cheerleading at Howell Middle School North. There are no interscholastic sports teams being fielded at Howell Middle School North.
Fiore said students who attend Howell Middle School North who want to wrestle may join the wrestling team at Howell Memorial Middle School or at Howell Middle School South.
That option is not available to Howell Middle School North students who want to play basketball or participate in cheerleading since those are “cut” sports for which students had to try out, he said.
Basketball players at the middle schools are paying $450 each to participate in the season. Wrestlers are paying $255 each to participate in the season. Cheerleaders are paying $190 each to participate in the season.
As the budget for the 2010-11 school year was being developed this spring, board members said the Howell K-8 district could no longer include money for the sports programs within the school budget. The board hired the Howell PAL to run the sports teams and co-curricular clubs and activities.
The school board is paying for the cost of non-sports activities and clubs after initially saying it could not afford to do so. Children are no longer being charged a fee to participate in the clubs and activities.
“The board felt that those (non-sports activities) were an extension of the academic program and perhaps could not be found anywhere else,” Howell Superintendent of Schools Enid Golden said.
She said sports teams are available to students through other venues in the community.