To the editor:

After spending a ridiculous amount of time, energy, and scarce resources researching whether to switch the high school athletic teams from the Metro League to the Olympic League, the school administration has their answer: Don’t do it!

Most of their review consisted of surveys and focus groups with students, parents, teachers, and coaches. The overwhelming responses were that people strongly prefer the competition Metro provides and the concerns the administration raised (impact of travel, lost class time, etc.) were not a concern. Results of the surveys can be found at the school board’s website.

You would think results this clear would end the matter, but for some reason the administration plans to continue looking for a problem to fit the solution they are pushing: to move to Olympic despite no support for doing so. They plan to continue wasting time and tax dollars on this until next November, when they will make another push to the school board.

To achieve their objective, it appears the administration is going to focus on one self-fulfilling, self-imposed criteria — loss of class time due to travel. This is a straw man.

Of course, on average, moving to Olympic will reduce at least slightly class minutes lost on competition days. But there is nothing to show that loss of class minutes somehow equates to lower grades. Most of our student athletes have very good grades and they have accomplished this by practicing life skills we want them to develop such as time management, prioritization, and planning. I would even bet that our student athletes have some of the highest grade point averages at the high school.

Please contact your school board representatives and let them know there is no support for moving from the Metro League.

JOE SOLSENG

Bainbridge Island