TUMWATER - John Stines, the parent of a Black Hills High School student, was willing to forgo pay this year to coach the school's rifle team.

“They are a great bunch of kids. I want them to have that opportunity to have a sport that isn’t mainstream,” said Stines, who also is chief of the Tumwater Police Department.

He and other parents of rifle team members attending Tumwater and Black Hills high schools successfully lobbied the Tumwater School District to allow the teams to be coached by a volunteer, the first such arrangement in the district.

They and other South Sound parents are turning to volunteerism and fundraising to save long-standing school programs that were eliminated as part of 2009-10 budget cuts.

In Olympia and Tumwater, separate groups are trying to raise money to save overnight elementary school trips to the Cispus Learning Center, also known as “outdoor school.” Cispus is in Randle, about 85 miles southeast of Tumwater.

Local districts were forced to cut millions of dollars from their budgets to deal with a shortfall that stemmed from a state funding crunch. If parents in Olympia and Tumwater succeed in saving the outdoor-schools programs, their efforts will restore thousands of dollars’ worth of programs to the district.

RIFLE TEAM COMPROMISE

Last month, the Tumwater district and parents of rifle team members agreed to a contract that would allow the teams to be coached by volunteers.

The rifle teams cost about $3,000 to operate each year, mainly to pay coaches, district officials have said.

Having a volunteer contract was important to the district to maintain each coach’s accountability, said Bob Kuehl, assistant superintendent for human resources.

Stines said parents of rifle team members initially were skeptical that the teams were cut purely for financial reasons, but were convinced after board members were supportive of the efforts to save the teams.

“It all came down to being a matter of revenue for the school district,” Stines said. “We were able to make it a revenue-neutral option.”

CISPUS EFFORTS

Efforts in Tumwater and Olympia to save the outdoor school programs are under way but have a ways to go before the springtime overnight trips to the Cispus Learning Center in Randle can be saved.

In both districts, all students in their last year of elementary school go on a districtwide trip to the campground, where they learn about science and the environment and meet students who will become their classmates in middle school. In Tumwater, that trip is taken in sixth grade. In Olympia, the trip is taken by fifth graders.

The effort in Tumwater, called Save Cispus for Thurston County Students, is about halfway to its goal of raising $30,000, said Raechel Laneer, parent of a Michael T. Simmons Elementary School student. They have a deadline of Jan. 1 to raise the money.

“Everyone that I’ve talked to, everyone is really open to Cispus. Most everyone is like, ‘I love Cispus. My kids went, my niece went, my grandchild went.’ It’s been in the community so long, everyone knows what it is,” she said.

The effort in Olympia, called Save Outdoor School – Olympia Kids, or SOS-OK, is a little less than one-third of the way to raising the $49,000 needed to save the program. Pioneer Elementary parent Ryan Hall said parents are optimistic about raising nearly $35,000 in the next two months because of many fundraisers planned in November and December. Their deadline is Dec. 31.

“The momentum is definitely continuing to build,” Hall said. “We should have the money by the middle of December.”

Although parents are optimistic about saving the programs for the 2009-10 year, the future of such programs is in doubt.

Hall said she would like the Olympia district to develop less-expensive options that still would give students an overnight and outdoor experience.

“I would like to see something sustainable,” she said. “It’s been clear from the community that they want an overnight outdoor experience.”

Hall said collecting donations was a concern at a time when many charities are asking for donations amid a recession but added that many have donated in other ways.

“If they can’t give money, it’s, ‘Well, why don’t you come gift wrap at our business?’ That’s part of why our momentum has been building so much,” he said.

Laneer said she and other Tumwater parents would like to see the district restore the outdoor school program at Cispus, because parents see it as socially and educationally valuable.

“Let us keep it going for this year and let us get it back into the budget in coming years,” she said. “That was what we were hoping to gain.”

Venice Buhain: 360-754-5445

vbuhain@theolympian.com

www.theolympian.com/edblog

 • Find out more about efforts to save the Olympia and Tumwater outdoor schools at the Cispus Learning Center.

Olympia: www.olykids4cispus.org

Tumwater: www.causes.com/savetumwatercispus