School to hire athletic trainer
Dundee Schools’ Board of Education decided to hire an athletic trainer for the district at its Monday, Aug. 23 meeting.

Due to a misunderstanding, a trainer for this year was not hired to help take care of players’ medical needs during practices and games.

Brenda White of the Dundee Athletic Boosters told the board, “I expect most of the people here are wondering where the trainer is. Can we get an update on that?”

Superintendent of Schools Robert Black said that the athletic trainer was lost last spring when the district had to trim back its budget due to lack of adequate funding from the state. The state has not increased the per-pupil funding grant in three years, and has periodically cut the funding.

“Part of what we trimmed was $10,000 for the trainer,” said Mr. Black. Also going from the budget were one and a half coaching positions and other things.

“You increased the pay-to-play fees to $40 per kid, which will bring in close to $23,000 to $25,000. Can’t that cover a trainer?” asked Mrs. White. “Plus, you’re charging another dollar person at the gate.”

Parents told the board that at the football scrimmage on Thursday, Aug. 19, a player from Addison was hurt. Addison had its own trainer, who saw to the student and an ambulance was called. Dundee had no medical personnel at the game.

Board member Patrick Funk said hopefully the ambulance would be at varsity football games. Parents asked what would happen if the ambulance were called away for an emergency.

Mrs. White said that coaches also cannot watch practice if they are taping players the entire time. She said the Boosters legally cannot hire personnel, so that group cannot help pay for a trainer.

Athletic Director John Krimmel said a trainer was never in the athletic budget this year. Steve Seeburger said the budget was created with the $290,000 the board said it would spend on athletics.
Board members Patricia Dempsey and Paula Fisk said they were confused. They understood that the pay-to-participate fees were increased from $20 to $40 for the high school and from $10 to $20 for the middle school with the intention that the extra funds were to be used to hire a trainer. Board member Brenda Rath agreed this was true.

“Well, if that’s what you said, then let’s do that,” said Mr. Funk.

The board voted to hire an athletic trainer, using the increased funds from the pay-to-participate fees.
“Nobody wants to hire a trainer more than I do,” said Mr. Krimmel, but he was concerned that it may be difficult to find one this time of year. “I had someone lined up in late May, but had to let them go [due to lack of funding]. I’ll start tomorrow. I’ll find someone.”

“If it wasn’t clear to us, it wasn’t clear to you,” said Mrs. Fisk to Mr. Krimmel.

In the meantime, Mr. Black said the coaching staff will figure out a way to cover the trainer’s duties for this week’s varsity game.

There’s still some concern about where the money will come from to fund the rest of the athletic program, since the trainer was not factored in originally.

Board President Vince Goff was upset that the school has to deal with inadequate funding, and wanted it to be clear that the district cares very much for the safety of the students.

“We are all acutely aware of the need for crisis intervention on the field,” said Mr. Goff. “The majority of this board voted to investigate the option of getting a trainer. If it was not possible through the Boosters, it was to come back to this board to see if we can put in a trainer,” he said.

“The last three months we have been in a budget crisis,” said Mr. Goff. “We have taken over a half-million dollars out of our emergency money and put it into funding this school year.”

Mr. Goff added, “We know we’re supposed to get certain money from the state. Last year, Lansing took away $100,000. If people want to do something, they need to call Lansing and tell them to get a budget together. They can’t tell us how much money they’re giving us this year. If they take away $100 per student, that’s $160,000 less to this district.”