Welcome back to school . There has been quite a bit of activity with water polo over the summer and recently. Try to get you caught up.

As some of you may know Hart has a new principal, which has been a huge boon to our effort. I met with him several times over the summer to talk polo. The idea being once he started the new year polo may not be as high on his list of things to do. After several successful meetings discussing our proposal for a no cost program we got coach Neale involved and came to the joint conclusion that Hart should do a pilot program to prove the concept.

We discussed this with the district COO Rob Gapper who also agreed with the concept. His action item for Nielsen was to have him get approval from the other principals. This is where we hit a huge roadblock. All of the sudden they realized the pressure they face by one school going it alone and the parent/players of the other 5 saying why not us?

For those of you who are Hart parents/players you should make a special effort to thank Dr. Nielsen for taking a stand for the program in the face of opposition and sticking to his position. Being the new principal in the gang of 6 it would have been easy to wilt under pressure and go with the flow. He did not.This courageous stand has driven the principals to come to the conclusion that there should be no pilot, but that we should just do it at all the schools.

As of today GV , and Saugus have also given their suppor to the program. If you are associated with those schools you need to let them know that you support their decision and look forward to a sucessful program in the fall of 08. Please do this, now is not the time to let up, and I don't want them to regress.

If you are associated with WR/V/C, you need to talk with them and ask them to support water polo. Right now we have a 3-3 tie so let's push one of these over the edge. Again they need to hear from you. If you pick your kid up, or do a drop off in the AM take the extra time to go to the admin building and ask to speak to the principal. Sometimes this is the only way to get through, and it makes the office admins very nervous to have a parent standing over their desk, so they will shuffle you off to the principal quickly. Again it is an extra effort, but you are they customer here, so take the time to let them know you are not satisfied with their stand on Polo. The key question to ask is "can I count on your support for Polo at the ADCO meeting on 9/26, and if not why do some of the other principals get it and you are struggling?

Timing is important here. There is a District meeting with the principals on 9/26 where this will be a topic of discussion. It was also a topic at the meeting on 9/12. Please have the conversation before the 26th.

The biggest hitch voiced by the principals has been funding. Our proposal to them shows a no cost program to the district with very average spirit pack costs, and fundraising efforts. Some of the principals question the reliability of this funding even though every team I have seen in the district uses this exact same means to fund their sport. You have kids/siblings/friends in other sports in the district I need to know the following...

EXAMPLE

School Hart
Sport Soccer
Level JV
Spirit Pack cost 300
Fund raising required 100

I need this for as many schools/sports in the district as I can get this week if possible.

This is a deliverable to the district COO to help him with the principals who question the funding methods. We have our 3rd meeting in 3 weeks with the COO this Friday, so Jim Ferguson & I will be taking this info in to discuss in advance of the 9/26 meeting. I am tired of typing and you are tired of reading. Contact your school, thank them for their support, or ask them for it, and get me anything you can on the other sport costs this week.

Thanks in advance for you help. I think we have the district moving in the right direction. They have taken time to meet with us the 3 successive weeks so I hope they would not do it if they were not seriously considering adding Polo.

Also if there are any parents who would be interested in being the parent sponsors for GV I would appreciate the help, so let me know. Not an awful lot to do outside of being a liaison with the school to help facilitate the program. Let me know.

Timing is important here. There is a District meeting with the principals on 9/26 where this will be a topic of discussion. It was also a topic at the meeting on 9/12. Please have the conversation before the 26th.

I am tired of typing and you are tired of reading. Contact your school, thank them for their support, or ask them for it, and get me anything you can on the other sport costs this week.

Thanks in advance for you help. I think we have the district moving in the right direction. They have taken time to meet with us the 3 successive weeks so I hope they would not do it if they were not seriously considering adding Polo.

Any questions, don't be shy, and if you know someone who supports polo please forward this on to them. Hopefully the boys playing polo this time next year, and the girls are practicing for their season starting in NOV.

See you at the pool

Jeff