ST. GEORGE — The possible addition of boys lacrosse as a sanctioned sport in all Washington County School District high schools was the subject of public comment at the school board meeting earlier this month.
The Washington County School District Board approved the addition of boys volleyball as a district-sanctioned sport for high school athletics. The move followed the Utah High School Activities Association board of trustees’ approval in March 2022.
Lacrosse, however, has been a school-sanctioned sport in Utah since the 2019-20 school year but has not been approved for Washington County schools. The board unanimously voted it down as a sanctioned sport Feb. 27. Boys volleyball was approved at the same meeting unanimously.
Several people spoke during the school board meeting April 11 about the pluses and minuses of adding lacrosse with the majority pleading for the board to re-examine its original decision.
“We have been working diligently to prepare lacrosse to be a varsity sport here in Washington County,” said Jenifer Winward, the newly elected Southern Utah Lacrosse Board president who has been active the local lacrosse community for 18 years.
In 2020, she said student-athletes represented the following high schools for the season opener: Dixie, Snow Canyon, Crimson Cliffs, Cedar and Canyon View. Unfortunately, COVID-19 hit and they had to shut down competition.
Winward said their numbers did not decline but rather grew in the 2021 season. Desert Hills High School joined at that time as well. She said the sport is already set up with teams playing on school fields, with a regional tournament and relationships with athletic directors.
She invited board members to check out a local lacrosse team and rethink their decision.
The high school teams are not official school-sanctioned sports, she said, but are under the Southern Utah Lacrosse as club teams or community teams.
Rebecca Holman, however, provided different feedback on the addition of another sport.
“I was very disheartened when I learned you just recently approved boys’ volleyball,” Holman said, “thereby funding the travel expenses associated with that decision.”
She instead focused on the need for school field trips, emphasizing how memorable these experiences are for kids.
“All the money we have raised and spent on field trips has gone to bussing expenses,” Holman said.
Kent Reid, who serves as a board member of the local lacrosse league, said lacrosse is booming as the fastest-growing sport in the state.
“We are hitting you guys with the full monty so to speak,” Reid said to the board. “I basically like to ask you guys to reconsider sanctioning lacrosse.”
Added Doug Madsen, a board member of STG Lacrosse who works with athletes grade 8 and younger: “We are having unprecedented growth at the younger level.”
Madsen said the group has seen numbers grow from 31 in 2021 to 63 in 2022. And it’s still growing.
“Today there is 469 youth registered with USA Lacrosse in Southern Utah,” Madsen added.
Holman, however, said field trips benefit the students by providing real-life examples and applications that cannot be achieved in the classroom.
“If the district has the money to fund additional extracurricular activities, then why aren’t field trips being funded for all of our elementary school children through district monies?” Holman said.
Holman added she was not happy the school board did not discuss the mission of the district when the conversation was going on about whether to approve boys’ volleyball. Primarily the mission statement of this endeavor (of a sanctioned sport) ensures high levels of learning for every student.
She said that resources should be allocated more to academics such as English, math and reading. She said a new sport would not fulfill the district’s goals of academic achievement in English language, mathematics or graduation rates.
“I do not think the resource of the district needs to be put towards that when we have needs to educate our children at higher levels in better ways,” Holman said to end the public feedback.
The next regular school board meeting is May 9 starting at 4:30 p.m. in the Washington County School District board meeting room.
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