Colfax school board declines to provide transportation to Bloomer for youth wrestling
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Board of Education has declined to provide transportation to Bloomer for fifth and sixth grade students who want to participate in wrestling.
Amber Parzyck, representing a group of what were presumably parents with children interested or already participating in wrestling, spoke to the Colfax Board of Education during the visitors’ section of the agenda at the February 19 meeting.
The Colfax school board also had “athletic transportation” as an agenda item later in the meeting.
Parzyck said her son attends school at Colfax and has been participating in wrestling since he was in pre-kindergarten.
Michael Hodel, the Colfax athletic director, sent out a survey to find out how many fifth and sixth graders would be interested in wrestling, and 20 students said they were interested, and another 20 said they would “maybe” be interested, she said.
Transportation to and from Bloomer for that number of students is a problem, Parzyck said.
Kobussen Buses out of Bloomer would charge $278 per trip or $6,700 for the school year. The amount would be less if Bloomer were invoiced because the Bloomer school district already has a working relationship with Kobussen, she said.
If students start wrestling when they are younger, it would be easier for them to stick with it when they are in high school, Parzyck said.
If there were more students going out for wrestling, there might be more students going out for football, she said.
The wrestling club might be able to help with the transportation cost, Parzyck said.
Colfax has one high school student this year participating in the wrestling program with Bloomer.
All sports
If the school district provides transportation for wrestling, all other sports would have to be considered, said William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator.
Colfax has typically not transported middle school students, said Todd Kragness, president of the Board of Education.
The school district does not have extra bus drivers who could transport students to Bloomer for wrestling, he said.
The cost would be $7,000 for 24 trips to Bloomer. If the school district opens up transportation for fifth and sixth graders for sanctioned programs, then it would hit all budgets if the school district transported fifth and six students for every sport, Kragness said.
Colfax has cooperative programs with other school districts for golf, wrestling and gymnastics. How are the fifth and sixth grade students involved? asked Jodi Kiekhafer, school board member.
Gymnastics involves some very young students, but that is a club sport, said Ken Bjork, school board member.
There is one high school student involved with gymnastics, and that student has the option to ride with the wrestling van to Bloomer, said John Dachel, Colfax high school principal.
20 plus 20
There would be 20 fifth and sixth graders, with possibly 20 more, Parzyck said.
In kindergarten through fourth grade, there are many participants in wrestling, but by the time they reach fifth and sixth grade, and the parents have to get them there to Bloomer, then there are a lot that give up, said another person in the audience.
Kragness said he understood the difficulty of parents trying to get their students to various activities because his own children “wanted to do everything.”
Transporting fifth and sixth grade students would be changing junior high athletics to fifth grade through eighth grade instead of grade seven and eight athletics, he said.
What about wrestling “when they are little?” Ackerlund asked.
There are youth and club programs with practice from kindergarten to fourth grade in Bloomer, said another person in the audience.
When Colfax had a wrestling club, there were 50 to 70 students participating from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, Parzyck said.
After the Colfax wrestling club was no longer in existence, then 10 students went to Bloomer, she said.
When there was a youth wrestling program in Colfax, there were to 50 to 70 participants, but now there is no youth program in Colfax, and no one wants to run a youth program in Colfax, Parzyck said.
Some families went to Bloomer to be in a club, she said.
Matches
When are the fifth and sixth grade wrestling matches? Yingst asked.
Tuesdays and one Friday, someone in the audience answered.
The matches are the same time as practice? Kragness asked.
Later in the evening, someone answered.
Where are the matches? asked Andrew De Moe, school board member.
There are six matches all together, including Ladysmith, Cameron, Turtle Lake and Bloomer, said someone in the audience.
The youth tournament could be here in Colfax next year, someone commented from the audience.
The bottom line is that you are looking for the school district to make an exception. How is fifth and sixth grade wrestling different? Ackerlund asked.
For middle school, wrestling is the only sport co-oped with another town, Parzyck said.
In seventh grade, the school transports for football, Ackerlund said.
Late buses
The school district used to have “late buses” so the students could get home after they participated in after-school activities. Now they have to find their own way home, Bjork said.
Some Messenger readers may remember the “late buses,” which were bus routes that went out after the regular afternoon routes to take students home who participated in sports activities or practices or who participated in activities such as being on the yearbook staff.
It would be the “easiest to say ‘yes’ to everything,” Bjork said, but sometimes the school board has to take the harder route and say “no” to some things.
Parents have to assume responsibility to get their students there, and Colfax has to have cooperative agreements with other school districts for some sports because there are not enough students, Bjork said.
The school district has athletic programming for students in grades seven to 12, but not for younger students, he said.
Kragness noted that two school board members were absent from the meeting, Ken Neuburg and Kyle Knutson, but that the school board still had a quorum.
Kragness made a motion to keep athletic transportation in Colfax for grades seven to 12, and Bjork seconded the motion.
The Colfax Board of Education approved the motion on a voice vote.