Sioux Falls School District officially cuts gymnastics from multi-million dollar budget

The Sioux Falls School District's Board of Education voted Monday night to officially adopt a $321.8 million tax-supported expenditure budget with a line item that cuts gymnastics from its sports offerings.

With the budget cut, nearly four dozen student gymnasts who once participated on the district's gymnastics teams are losing their school-sponsored sport, according to enrollment counts from the 2022-2023 school year.

Many of those students, along with alumni, parents and coaches, spoke out against the gymnastics decision in multiple board meetings this spring when board members were deciding if they should cut the sport.

More: Students, coaches flip out about future of Sioux Falls School District’s gymnastics programs

The cut also means seven school district gymnastics coaches are out of a job. District community relations coordinator DeeAnn Konrad said those seven coaches are welcome to apply for other positions for which they may qualify.

Lincoln High School gymnastics coach Les Coin is one of those who has now lost the job he's held for more than two decades in the district.

As a coach, Coin said he helped gymnasts with more than just gymnastics techniques. He also imparted life lessons. The life lesson his gymnasts learned from trying to save their sport was to fight for what they believe in, even if it doesn’t go their way, he said.

“It made me proud as a coach,” he said about hearing the student gymnasts he's coached through the years speak up at meetings where administrators and school board members weighed cutting the sport. “Hopefully, I had a little bit of a role in making them confident enough, knowing that they can stand up in front of a group of adults, and be proud of themselves.”

What went into this decision?

One of the main reasons the district cited for cutting gymnastics was declining participation numbers over the years. Coin attributed that decline to district cuts to middle school participation, limited participation during COVID-19, the loss of gymnastics camps and a lack of access to transportation.

Administrators had also pointed to the aging equipment in the gymnastics program as something to be cut during board meetings. Konrad said the district will determine if leftover gymnastics equipment can be used in other sports. Items that are unstable, outdated or can't be used in other sports will be declared surplus, she said.

Those who spoke out against the gymnastics cut in prior board meetings had proposed solutions like fundraising to bolster the more than $76,000 gymnastics budget, donating equipment to the teams, building their own floors to keep the teams going in practice space at the schools or founding a nonprofit to keep the sport running, but none of those solutions were taken up by the district.

“I know that parents have said that the money can be raised, students can pay annual fees or fundraise a certain amount, but for me, for a public school, we need to be able to provide a program at a level that is fully funded, not relying on parents, students or private donors to keep it going,” board member Carly Reiter said during an April 24 board meeting.

How does Title IX fit in?

Opponents of the gymnastics cut had argued it may be in violation of Title IX, which is a federal requirement for schools to provide equal athletic opportunity for the sexes. Board members and administrators have refuted that claim, though. The district now has 12 boys' sports and 15 girls' sports.

More: Sioux Falls School District's $328 million budget includes cutting gymnastics program

Dan Swartos, director of the South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA), said Title IX isn't about how many sports are offered and keeping them equal between boys and girls, but is about participation numbers as a whole, those numbers reflecting proportionately with the school population as a whole, and efforts to seek out and add desired opportunities. It also relates to how financial aid flows to athletes, and other athletics benefits and opportunities, Swartos explained.

Konrad said the district has recently expanded sports opportunties for girls with softball and wrestling teams to comply with those Title IX requirements, resulting in increased athletic participation for girls in the district. Adding those sports also meant adding more than 12 coaches to the district's staff.

The SDHSAA doesn't currently allow students to attend one school and participate at a different school in a different district, even if the school they attend doesn't offer their desired sport, Swartos explained. That's because the classification system for teams is based on the school's enrollment count, and if students only come to a school for sports and not full-time attendance, they're not in that school's enrollment count, he added.

Sports cooperatives, where two schools from different districts jointly offer a sports program so all the kids participate for one team representing both districts, are allowed by SDHSAA, Swartos said.

Rapid City Area Schools also cut their gymnastics teams in February due to low participation numbers, the Rapid City Journal reported. The loss of six AA teams — four from Sioux Falls and two from Rapid City — means only nine AA teams remain: Aberdeen Central, Brookings, Harrisburg, Huron, Mitchell, O'Gorman, Pierre, Watertown and Yankton, according to the SDHSAA roster.

More: Sioux Falls students won't have gymnastics by fall, pending school board vote

Harrisburg superintendent Tim Graf said in April that the loss of the teams from bigger cities could have an impact over time as it means fewer AA teams will compete, which could also lead to more travel for those teams still competing.

Losing school-sanctioned sport is like 'mourning the loss of a loved one'

Mae Van Beek remembers how nervous she was at her first high school gymnastics meet last year. She was competing as a seventh grader on Lincoln High School’s gymnastics team against other high schoolers in the district. She remembers feeling all eyes on her in the gymnasium.

In that moment of heightened anxiety and fear, Coin and Van Beek's teammates had her back, she said.

“They really helped me get over my fears," she said.

Van Beek said the program and her coach have helped her develop confidence not only in gymnastics, but in all other aspects of her life.

With the 2023-2024 school year starting Aug. 24, that safe space Van Beek and other young student gymnasts cherished will be gone after Monday's board vote, leaving the gymnastics community still reeling and wondering how to pick up the pieces.

More: More gymnastics supporters stand up against Sioux Falls School District plan to gut program

“It's honestly kind of like mourning the loss of a loved one,” Lincoln High School senior gymnast Anna Leuning said. “Gymnastics was a love for all of us, and so it's just very heartbreaking.”

Leuning said she felt like she had something stolen from her, and she’s frustrated she wasn’t able to do more to help change the outcome.

“You just feel like you have no power, and that's very hard to deal with,” she said.

Gymnasts like Van Beek and Leuning said there was something special about being a part of the team; Leuning considered it family, and said she even spent more time talking to the girls on the team than to her own family.

Coin was a major reason why the team members became as close as they were, the student gymnasts said, noting he inspired confidence, was each gymnast's closest confidant and helped establish a tight-knit environment.

“He's my second dad, basically,” Leuning said of Coin. “I see my dad when I come home, but I see (Coin) throughout the day. He connects with us when there's a problem in our life and it's such an amazing way that he coaches, he's just amazing.”

Leuning said she likely won’t continue gymnastics in her senior year. With the sport now cut from the high school budget, she’d rather focus on everything she has to do within her final year of high school. Her only other option right now would be club gymnastics, which she said is more expensive and not as team-oriented.

Van Beek and rising eighth grader Sophie DeGroot are also uncertain about their future. They’ve both been doing gymnastics since they were each six or seven years old.

"They're losing a huge part of themselves," Coin said of his team. "Whatever they choose, I'm going to support them."

DeGroot has been going to gymnastic lessons once a week but admits she may never find another environment like the Lincoln High School team again.

Van Beek said in her experience, club gymnastics doesn't provide the same type of environment or safe space as the LHS team did, as clubs are strictly focused on improving technique and winning.

Leuning now takes even more pride in her memories with the team and the love she has for the program.

“I was very lucky that I had the chance to be able to be a part of it,” she said. “I'm very sad that it's not continuing anymore, but at the same time, it's kind of like a lesson to just live in the moment and be grateful for what you have, because you never know until it's gone.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls School approves 2024 budget without gymnastics