When any of our teams in Sumner County face an opponent it’s usually on the field or the court, but this time sports programs all over the county are facing a common opponent that can change the landscape of how they operate.

A loss to this opponent will mean widespread changes to each and every program because the opponent our teams are facing is the Sumner County Board of Education, and the 11 member school board.

Rumor mills are usually just that, but I’ve found that there is usually at least a bit of truth in just about every rumor out there.

So when I started hearing about developments that may be taking shape at the January 26 principal’s meeting, I put on my reporters hat and began digging into the world of politics.

What is being proposed is taking away fourth block athletics from all Sumner County schools, and from what I’ve been able to decipher from my digging, the proposal has considerable support.

This is not something that’s unprecedented, Wilson County already has it in place, but after talking to some parents and coaches just a few miles to our northeast, they have already gone through the outrage and dealt with the changes.

What school officials, parents, and booster clubs in Wilson County are doing now is finding ways around the rule because of the chaos it has created in everyone’s lives.

Now there are pros and cons on both side of the argument, but I don’t want leave any room for speculation as to which side my allegiance lies.

by Chris Lynn

I do this job because of the athletes, parents, coaches, trainers, and all the booster clubs out there because I firmly believe that sports is a positive thing  to all the young people involved.

So let’s look at the pros and cons of the changes that are proposed; first going with the pros to be fair.

Getting rid of fourth block athletics will give athletes more class time, and with the school system struggling with the budget, will allow coaches to add extra class time to their day so the school system won’t have to worry about adding more teachers that are really needed.

I’m sure supporters of the changes could come up with more arguments on what the changes will also affect in a positive nature, but that’s all I could come up with.

Since no one is talking on that side of the argument yet, that’s what we’ll go with for the pros.

I am much more familiar with the cons. Let’s start with the athletes themselves because by the Board of Education and the board members own standards, that’s their main concern.

By the way things are now; athletes are already faced with a full day of classes that start just after 8 a.m. From there, athletes have classes, then practice on days they don’t have games, with days that now end sometime between 6 and 7 p.m.

They have to go from practice home to do homework and study putting their day ending at the earliest at 9 p.m. On game nights it’s much later than that with nearly every game ending after 9 or 9:30 p.m.

Getting rid of the fourth block athletic time would add at least an hour or two to those times, so now you’re looking at after 10:30 at least at the high school level.

For coaches, their days go from long to incredibly long, and forget about any family time because they don’t get much of that right now anyway.

I know that coaches aren’t the board’s main concern, but they do so much behind the scenes that nobody ever sees or knows about.

They already have a 14 to 16 hour work day on average as it is, and putting more on them just doesn’t make sense to me, which gets into coaches supplemental pay which is among the lowest in the state, according to a 2006 survey of Tennessee counties. The percentage of salary that a Sumner County coach receives as a supplement for coaching hasn’t changed since the late 1960s.

I know the board will say that coach’s pay has gone up since then, but if you look at the comparison to surround counties, our coaches are five to seven percent below most of the surrounding counties, and at least seven to 11 percent behind Rutherford County, who is the highest paid in the state.

Then we get to the parents, who are at the mercy of whatever decision that is made.

For them, changes to the fourth block will also mean more time away from the student athlete, and if the fourth block goes away that will mean some schools will have athletes come in at 6 a.m., and others will have to opt for after school sessions.

Either way their lives will be disrupted more than they already are, and trust me when I say, they are already making more sacrifices than anyone can imagine.

That’s why I wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention because what can seem to be a good idea to a few board members and the director will affect far more than just the bottom line.

This is a decision that will affect several hundred people’s lives, so before they just make a new policy change, I think all that needs to be taken into account. But I’m just one voice, and you, the reader, are the ones that can really make the difference here.

Let the Board of Education leaders, and the board members themselves know your feelings about what may be about to take place, and it might not hurt to remind them that they are elected officials.

Five of those board members are coming up for re-election this year, so if they manage to push this through remember you still have a voice, and it can be heard loud and clear on election day.

I’ve given you the facts as I have them, so now you are at least armed with most of the information and you can take it from here.

The Press Box is an opinion column by Sports Editor Chris Lynn and in no way expresses the belief of the staff of the Gallatin News or the Hendersonville Standard.