Editor’s Note: The remarks below were delivered by Plainsboro resident Robert Corell at the WW-P Board of Education meeting on February 16 in reaction to the proposed merger of the boys’ hockey teams from High Schools North and South (The News, February 5 and 19).
I have lived here for 20 years now. I have 23-year-old daughter who started in the WW-P school district at Wicoff in 1998. I also have a sophomore at High School North who plays ice hockey and lacrosse. In the 18 years my children have attended WW-P schools I have never felt the need to attend, let alone address a WW-P Board of Education meeting.
I am here tonight to talk about the merger of the High School North and South ice hockey teams. From the outset, I want to make clear in broad strokes that I am neither for nor against the merger. I am not here on behalf of my son. My son will be fine. He has opportunities. I am a teacher in a neighboring school district with a strong ice hockey program. I could bring him there with me. He has also applied to a New England prep school, so if he really wants to play hockey at a higher level he can. Given those options, my son would rather stay at North and play with his friends. If the merger goes through, I am not sure how he will feel.
What I am very concerned about is how we have gotten to this point on the merger, and I am very concerned about how the merger is proposed to be implemented.
Before I get to those concerns I want to go back several years to when High School North was built and about to come on line. At the time there was a healthy discussion in the community as to whether we should have a 9-10 and 11-12 building or two completely separate high schools. We ended up where we are today because the thought was that two separate high schools would afford greater opportunities for our students. The thought was expressed that with two separate high schools there would be two first violins, two starting quarterbacks, two valedictorians, etc.
As we have gone through the last two years, we the parents of the North ice hockey team have been well aware of our team’s limitations and struggles. We are under no illusions as to the skill level possessed (or lacked) by our children. While we are not surprised by the decision to go ahead with the merger, we are very concerned, some to the point of outrage, that we were not consulted or even invited to express our opinion on this change to the program.
We have been attempting to be involved in this process for over a year now. So I can only imagine that you can understand our shock to learn that the concept had been formalized, presented, and approved by the Board without informing the parents that it was happening. While you may not have agreed with our position, it would have been proper to ask for our input and to inform us that a vote was taking place.
We should not be required to read the Board of Education agenda each month — though I will from now on. We should also not have to read the local newspapers to find out that actions affecting our children have been decided without us.
Furthermore, I think the way the Ewing players have been tossed to the side much like used trash is inexcusable. To you, they may simply be residents of another district and not your responsibility, but to us they are members of our hockey family. I think we owe them more than a pat on the back as we send them away. Quite frankly, if the purpose is to increase the number of skilled players on the varsity, sending away one of the best players on either team seems counter-productive.
I personally agree that combining the populations of the two schools will probably increase the skill level of the top end of the team. However, if this comes at the price of decreasing opportunities for other children of lesser skill levels then I am 110 percent against the merger. At this time the plans for the combined teams do not include a full junior varsity program. To me this is totally counter-productive.
While I agree with Athletic Director Jean-Marie Seal’s position that JV opponents need to be chosen with care, to ask kids to come out and skate and practice for a year or two without the prospect of getting into a game over that period does not sound like a positive proposal. The cost of hockey equipment is extremely high. Just ask the player from Ewing who fell in love with the game this year only to be tossed aside with probably nowhere to go next year. Skates alone are between $200 and $400 and if you want really good ones about $750. Sticks are anywhere from $75 to $250 apiece. There need to be at least a few JV games to give those athletes a chance to measure their skill progression.
If you disagree with me, then why the has the lacrosse coach at North worked so hard for the last two years to make sure that he has a functioning freshman team even when that program had barely enough players to field a team last year. To me not having a JV program is simply signing the ice hockey program into a death spiral.
In addition, if you really want to build the program, there needs to be some sort of hockey program at the middle school. This does not need to be in the form of a team. It could even be once a week club or floor hockey or roller hockey if weather permits. This would create at least a base of athletes with an interest in the sport.
Turning to concerns about the logistics of the combined program. We have several questions. We have been told that there will be additional practices funded by the school district. How many more? At what time of day? Why is this important? I will tell you. Tryouts for travel hockey begin on April 6. At that time a decision has to be made by a player as to play short season (ending in November) or full season (my son still has three weeks left in his travel season).
I chose to have my son play full season this past year. Why? Because given the current configuration of the program, one practice a week is not enough for a player to stay sharp let alone improve on skills. The top programs in the CVC and Mercer County practice almost every day and are on the ice at least five days a week. Unless the combined team has this available to them I do not see how you expect the less skilled players to improve.
Would you suggest to other sports that they only have one practice a week in their equipment? How many weeks does football practice every day before their first game? Also, the suggestion that off-ice practices be held separately by the school will do nothing to build team camaraderie. It sounds more like a club or activity than a sport.
Finally, if the concerns involve skill level in a contact sport in terms of safety considerations for the players (one which I think needs serious consideration) does that mean if the High School South football team has another down season next year that the two high school football teams will be combined?
As I said in the beginning my son has options so this is not about my son, but more about the health of the program. If you want to see what this program can be, just come to the Bachner game, which draws around 300 people including parents of students who graduated years ago.
As Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis is famous for saying: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant” — we, the parents of the High School North hockey team, demand open communication about how to best implement this merger.
