HUDSON COUNTY — Some of the county freeholders and local mayors may be changing their minds about eliminating the sports programs in the county schools in order to save money, now that parents are protesting.
On Thursday, May 13, dozens of parents lobbied the freeholders to keep appropriations for the sports programs — and the Advanced Placement classes, which also face the ax — in the county budget next month.
Recently, all of the mayors of the towns in Hudson County publicly agreed to eliminate sports at the two countywide public high schools, which are magnet schools for students who would rather go there than their own local public school. The mayors said cutting sports at the county schools would save money, noting that the same sports are offered at the individual towns’ schools — and that the county coaches have been unfairly recruiting away talent from the towns’ schools.
But some parents of athletes at the two Hudson County Schools of Technology don’t want to see their sports programs die.
More than 50 parents and students lined up at the podium at Thursday night’s freeholders meeting to express their outrage, saying that politics should play no role in cutting programs that include sports and Advanced Placement classes, which will hamper promising students from being accepted into quality colleges.
Parents asked if the move was political rather than financial. They said local mayors who may have approved the cuts may be doing this because of pressure from school districts who see talented sports students leave for the county high schools.
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