Schools

Manchester High Athletic Director on Budget Cuts: 'We'll Just Have to Tighten Our Belts'

Curious how cuts to the Athletic Department's budget will affect high school sports?

Asked how he intends to fill $53,668 worth of cuts to the athletic budget, Athletic Director Lindsey Boutilier said that the high school sports programs will just have to learn to do more with less. 

"Like everybody else, we all have to tighten our belts," Boutilier told Patch Thursday. 

The cuts include six assistant coaching positions, transportation and supplies funding, and a reduction in the amount the school spends on its co-op hockey program. 

Boutilier stressed that the cuts do not affect any athletic programs.

"What I'm happy about is we're not losing any sports. All of the programing is intact," Boutilier said, adding that in the case of the assistant coaching cuts "in some cases we don't even have those positions filled." 

The cuts will affect an assistant boys and girls soccer coach, a football assistant, an outdoor track assistant and a freshman fall and winter cheerleading coach. 

Boutilier said that several of those positions were currently vacant and that he had not made a determination about which positions to eliminate, noting that fundraising could be used in some cases to help plug the gap. 

The hockey co-op, which includes Newington and Berlin and won the Division III Championship this past winter, will remain in tact; however, funding for that program will be cut by $17,000. 

Interim Superintendent Richard Kisiel said Manchester Public Schools were spending disproportionately on the program considering only three Manchester students participated in it last year. 


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