John SkinnerBecause of cost cutting in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, Athletic Director Bob Fish has been reassigned to teach full time, leaving Paula Spence, Vice Principal to coordinate Mira Costa High School’s 64 teams and 1,200 athletes.
The reassignment of athletic director duties is only one of sweeping changes approved by the district’s board of trustees, who voted to eliminate all of the school’s coaching stipends and its athletic trainer beginning next school year.
To pay for the $180,000 in coaching stipends and more than $60,000 for a trainer, plus other costs, the school’s booster clubs have joined forces with the Manhattan Beach Athletic Foundation to ask parents for a donation of $325 per athlete for the first sport he or she participates in and $200 for each additional sport.
*Source: LA Times: For the full article plus more information on budget cuts regarding athletic programs across the region, please read: Budget cuts affecting athletic department funding
