Editorial Response - Williams Bay Football Program (9/16/16) //www.williamsbayschools.org/pro/bulletin/rss_posts.cfm?threadid=23&memberid=886 Dr. Anderson's Blog - Editorial Response - Williams Bay Football Program (9/16/16) en-us Wayne Anderson //www.williamsbayschools.org/about/blog.cfm?posts=1&threadid=23#item_23 On Wednesday, September 15, 2016, I read an editorial about the Williams Bay Football program. I felt compelled to write a response to this editorial because of the amount of misinformation that this editorial contained. It is true that Williams Bay will not have its own football program this fall because we did not have enough students to field a team. In the editorial it stated that the previous coach had turned the Williams Bay football program around and that he left because he had asked the district for additional financial support and his request was turned down. This was a totally false statement. Our football program was experiencing success a few years ago and I was proud to carry our school flag while leading our team out on to the field. Our program was successful because of the hard work and dedication of the coaching staff, athletes and the community. The coach at the time did decide to leave, but it had nothing to do with finances.

The Williams Bay School Board has been steadily increasing the size of the athletic budget each year that I have been the district’s superintendent. The Board of Education knows the importance of maintaining a strong co-curricular program for its students and has made every effort possible to financially provide for the programs. In addition, the Sports Boosters have been willing to help support additional financial requests that may be outside of the school budget. For example, this year the Sports Boosters are paying the difference in cost from a school bus to a coach bus for all of our away games that exceed 75 miles one way and they also contributed their time and finances to build the new baseball dugouts. The community has shown its support for the Bay’s athletic programs by funding a brand new Elementary School that contains an updated fitness center that will be used to help increase the strength, endurance and agility of our athletes.

The editorial mentioned many past individuals that were once a part of the Williams Bay football team that ended up being very successful in life. I do not find this surprising. Individuals that participate in co-curricular activities generally tend to do better in school. The students who attend the Williams Bay School District have the great fortune of being able to participate in a wide-range of co-curricular activities. Those activities that we cannot support alone, such as soccer, swimming, tennis, wrestling and track; we co-op with neighboring school districts.

The students who attend the Williams Bay School District are very fortunate because they have the ability to participate in many co-curricular activities. Due to the size of our school district, almost every individual that wants to participate in a co-curricular activity has the ability to do so. This participation helps bolster their ability to work with others, their dedication to put forth the necessary effort to succeed and their ability to accept both victory and defeat in a gracious manner.

I feel proud to be part of a school district and community that supports its students both on and off the field of competition.

A proud Bulldog fan and supporter!

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