Donors revive 3 Oakland sports — gender equity may remain an issue
New donations will save three of 10 sports cut in Oakland high schools last week, but even with the help, the district might still be out of compliance with federal law requiring gender equity in sports.
A $35,000, one-time gift from a donor who wished to remain anonymous will ensure that about 125 girls can still play golf and tennis this fall, said district spokesman John Sasaki at a Monday afternoon press conference. In addition, a separate donation will save girls’ lacrosse, which is played at only one school, Oakland Technical.
Sasaki acknowledged that the district did not adequately consider how the cuts to sports would comply with the Title IX civil rights law, which requires high schools to provide boys and girls with equal opportunities to play sports.
Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell officially announced the elimination of 10 sports in a letter to families Friday, saying the cost savings
would help close the district’s budget shortfall, saving $500,000.
The cuts affected nearly twice as many girls as boys.
The district eliminated bowling, boys’ and girls’ golf, boys’ and girls’ tennis, wrestling, swimming, girls’ lacrosse, girls’ badminton, and boys’ volleyball.
Of the estimated 530 students affected by the cuts, 347 were girls and 183 boys, according to a district analysis released late Friday.
“I can say that we at the district didn’t handle this as well as we could,” Sasaki said, adding that district administrators were reviewing how the decision was made without full consideration of Title IX requirements and why coaches and players from the eliminated teams were notified two weeks into the school year, in same cases with practices and games already scheduled.
The district has not had a way for people to donate directly to its athletic programs, but on Monday unveiled a new website that offers donors that option. (Go to tinyurl.com/ y9b4blkv)
School board President Aimee Eng was unavailable for comment, and district staff associated with the Oakland Athletic League, which oversees high school sports, referred questions to Sasaki.
The decision shocked students, coaches and sympathetic community members who scrambled over the weekend to raise money to keep the sports this school year.
At Oakland Technical High School, members of the girls’ tennis team sought to save their sport by creating an
online fundraiser over the weekend, said senior Gabriella Sands.
On Monday afternoon, Gabriella was back on the court, taking a break from practice to express relief that the team’s season was back on track.
“Were playing now,” she said, adding that it was bittersweet given that other teams were still sidelined. “There are other sports that still don’t have the funding.”
As of Monday afternoon, the tennis team’s effort had raised $270 of the $1,000 online goal and would be looking at how that can help to fund sports across the district, Gabriella said.
Meanwhile, former 49ers placekicker Doug Brien was also moved to act after the district’s announcement Thursday, saying the elimination of the 10 teams was “kind of a travesty.”
“I personally feel sports is such an important part of the overall educational experience,” said Brien, who was on the team that won the Super Bowl in January 1995. “I benefited from it a lot.”
He said he intended to contact the district to volunteer his services to help gather donors or create a matching fund to help pay for the sports.
“I just know there’s a lot of people who care,” he said.
The cuts to wrestling, boys’ golf and tennis, swimming, girls’ badminton, and boys’ volleyball remained in effect on Monday, but Sasaki said district officials hope additional fundraising will save all the programs. Bowling, however, will become a club sport, allowing students to continue participating without district support.
“We know across (Oakland Unified) the importance of sports,” Sasaki said. “We know that in some cases it keeps our kids in school because that’s the primary thing that motivates them to be here.”