More than 50 staff have been laid off at the Freeport School District due to increasing budget deficits. Now, the athletic department is also facing cuts and looking at cutting assistant coaches, according to multiple sources.
Some assistant coach positions will be eliminated due to the budget deficit. It is currently unknown which positions will be cut, according to three different staff members at FHS.
Matthew Gallie, Head Golf Coach, believes this would make it very difficult for coaches to continue providing the programs they currently offer without assistants.
“It would hurt every program that would lose one,” Gallie said. “Their absence would make every program suffer.”
FSD 145 is currently in a $7 million deficit this school year, with a chance for next year’s deficit to be $11 million. Staffing cuts will primarily solve this deficit, according to Freeport Education Association President Kelly Everding.
Athletes, particularly on smaller teams, are worried about cutting positions, especially their assistant coaches.
“My sport relies on our assistant coach creating workouts for my team and me,” Eden Helm, a member of the Girls Swim and Dive team, said, “Without him, we wouldn’t train as we should be.”
All teams who had their assistants cut have been notified by now, according to Gallie, but there have been no new updates from Athletic Director Brad Pemberton.
