By Andrew Rote

Hockey parents packed the board of education’s meeting on Tuesday night to press their case for a hockey program at Newtown High School - funding for which the board recently cut from its proposed operating budget.

During budget discussions, board members were staring at a significant increase in funding requests and felt they needed to trim the budget’s bottom line. Among cuts in teaching positions and technology resources, the school board opted not to supply requested funds for the hiring of a hockey coach to get the program off the ground.

Parents Tuesday night stated that the support that the sport has throughout the town makes in necessary for a program to come to the high school.

“There are so many people that want to play [hockey],” complained Mike Skiba, a freshman. “It’s ridiculous that we don’t have a team.”

Mark Korotash, a parent of hockey enthusiasts, made a presentation to the school board on behalf of the parents present at the meeting. “Newtown is the only school in the area that does not have an ice hockey team,” he pointed out. “There are 18 Division I and 40 Division II ice hockey teams in the state of Connecticut.”

Parent Dan Coakley, maintaining that some children are forced to enroll into private schools for the sole purpose of playing hockey, addressed the school board emotionally during public participation. “It’s high time we have a hockey program.”

Newtown has not always been a non-hockey school, thanks to several co-op arrangements it has had with neighboring schools. A co-op team involves Newtown sending its hockey players to area schools to join forces with their teams. In the 1970s, Newtown formed a co-op team with Pomperaug, and three years ago the school had a hockey alliance with Bethel. But as the programs in those schools grew, Newtown got bumped off the ice, leaving students who wanted to play hockey lacking a team on which to play.

Since January of 1999, parents and children who live in Newtown have been trying to add hockey to the list of activities for high school students. The first meet drew 40 families. Since then, parents have conducted research throughout the school system and found overwhelming support for a hockey program.

The parents present Tuesday night emphasized that they were not there to chide the school board for making budget cuts, but rather to get the board’s endorsement to allow parents to fund the program on their own. The supporters of ice hockey want it recognized as a varsity sport and are willing to fund the program if they can’t obtain money through the budget, parents said.

Mr Korotash outlined a scenario of a student who grows up playing hockey in leagues outside Newtown, and once arriving at the high school finding no way to continue his passion. “Is it fair to say to these kids ‘you have invested anywhere from five to 10 years of your lives, and now that you’ve reached high school, you have to give it all up’?” he asked.

To their end, parents have already taken the first step of funding the program by receiving donations that can be used to help families that cannot afford to purchase necessary equipment. They have also received a donation of 100 hockey sticks for the program, and several local teachers have expressed interest in coaching the team.

Mr Korotash said the school board “has nothing to lose,” and that Newtown would not have to pay for maintenance of a field because the skaters will be using rented rinks. In addition, Newtown would not have to pay for a coach or equipment.

Some board members expressed regret that the parent’s request comes at a time when they are attempting to hold on to the funds that are proposed in the district’s operating budget.

The parents’ request to fund the program themselves will be presented for consideration by high school Principal Bill Manfredonia, before returning to the school board for a vote.

(Andrew Rote is a sophomore journalism student at Newtown High School, who writes about sports and technology for the school’s paper, The Hawkeye.)