By Will McCartney

Larger class sizes, less staff, no new textbooks, potential activity and athletic cuts: these are some of predicted consequences of the override defeat. With a record size 2011 L-S class, the school system will struggle to make ends meet. Moreover, the K-8 schools will have it worse if cuts are enacted.
Since it has been well over a decade since the last override for the school did not pass, many parents believed that the vote would be successful, contributing to the mere 38% voter turnout. The economic slump also contributed to the override’s defeat; nine homes in Sudbury have been foreclosed in the past six months. Finally, people were not well informed about the vote. The Town Crier failed to report on the exact facts of the override.
I am disappointed that people did not evaluate the consequences of voting against the override, as it will become harder for the school to provide for the growing student body. The school has to make $700,000 in cuts, and it probably will not be long before a larger override is needed.
However, the school committee’s cuts were poorly planned. For example, at the April 15th committee meeting, one parent pointed out that cutting cheerleading was pointless. Cheerleading costs about four thousand dollars a year so the school committee reasoned that they would save four thousand dollars. However, with a two hundred dollar fee, the cheerleaders would pay a total of $4000, and therefore finance themselves and thus not impact he budget deficit whatsoever. Cutting teams across the board will in fact do very little to reduce the budget.
Some parents and students have been circulating an e-mail petition to save sports and activities, which now has over eight hundred signatures that advocates finding alternative funding methods. There is a similar group on Facebook that currently has over 470 members.
I recommend increasing the athletic fee to about $280. This would allow the school not to cut any sports or close the fitness center. Already, other surrounding schools charge far more for sports than L-S does. Scholarships provided by the L-S Boosters could help to support lower income families., or kids could work over the summer to help pay for the fees.
The quality of the school system will suffer as a result of the override’s defeat, but the school system must save what it can. Ephraim Curtis Middle School has already raised its athletic fee to $195 to save its sports. L-S should be willing to do the same. We are a tightly knit community and should not place the weight of the budget cuts on only a select group of teams and clubs. In the words of Boys X-C running, “We ride together; we die together.”