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Frederick County freshman next year will play fewer basketball and football games, and no high school student will jump off a diving board in competition.

Such is the price Frederick County Public Schools must pay to preserve swimming and freshmen athletics next year, the school board decided Wednesday.

The reductions are a part of the school system's latest efforts to scale back on athletic programs to help bridge a possible $15 million budget deficit in the proposed $506 million fiscal 2010 budget.

School officials considered eliminating freshman athletics and closing all the three swimming pools in county high schools, saving $118,000 and $764,000 respectively.

But parents protested, and the school board decided not to eliminate the programs. Instead, the board directed staff to talk with parents to find an agreeable way to reduce by about 50 percent the spending for these programs.

After two months and many conversations with swimming staff, officials and parents, school officials developed two plans for scaling back spending for swimming and athletic programs.

"The idea was to look at athletics overall, not just swimming," said Ann Bonitatibus, assistant superintendent for secondary schools. "We tried to create a package that preserves as much as we can of what our families enjoy about our programs."

Members of the Frederick County Board of Education discussed the proposals on Wednesday, and approved in concept some of the staff-recommended cuts.

Board members agreed to reduce spending on freshman athletics by cutting the number of ninth-grade football games from 10 to eight and basketball games from 18 to 14. They also agreed to condense swim practices to one hour per session.

The school system will also reduce the number of pre-season scrimmages from three to two and eliminate holiday athletic tournaments.

The school system will also eliminate the diving program, which serves 30 to 40 students. Unlike swimming and other more traditional sports, diving is not recognized by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, Bonitatibus said.

"We felt that eliminating diving would be a reasonable compromise," Bonitatibus said. "FCPS is the only school system in Maryland that competes in that category."

Eliminating diving will also free up space for swimmers in the pools, she said.

Schools will also cut transportation for swimmers by 50 percent. That will affect students who don't have swimming pools at their schools and rely on school buses to take them to one of the three swimming pools at Frederick, Middletown or Walkersville high schools.

Bonitatibus said this recommendation was suggested by some swimming families and should not be a problem for students, many of whom already drive to practice on their own.

The school board also decided to reduce the work year for pool operators from 12 to 10 months.

As a result of all these changes, the school system will be save $98,000.

The school board also decided to raise by 50 percent the fees that community groups pay to use the pools in the system, though it was not immediately clear how much more money the increase would bring in.

The fees would affect groups such as the YMCA, Monocacy Aquatic Club or Frederick Area Swim Team. This year the school system charges between $77 and $117 per hour.

Board members, however, could not agree on an appropriate increase in the athletic fees for students in the system and decided to come back to that issue at a later date.

Staff proposed three possible increases to the $65 athletic fee – by $10, $20 and $35 per student. According to staff these options could earn $73,700; $147,400 or $257,000, respectively. In their proposal, staff recommended the highest increase to the fee.

On Wednesday, Bonitatibus told the board that many families had indicated they would not mind paying a higher fee for sports. Bonitatibus said she checked the fees in some surrounding counties and most often they were higher and looking for increases.

But board member Kathryn Groth said she did not feel comfortable ramping up the fee to $100, especially in the current tough economic times. "I am not happy with $100," she said. "I cannot support that."

Groth was also concerned that if the fees go up to high, some families would simply decide to pull their children out of athletic programs.

Board members Bonnie Borsa and Daryl Boffman expressed similar concerns. They said that families may find it difficult to pay the fees, especially if they have more than one student in the system.

"I don't want to go to $100," Borsa said. "I think psychologically, going from $65 to $100 is huge."

Cuts to athletic programs

Reduce ninth-grade football games from 10 to eight

Reduce ninth-grade basketball games from 18 to 14

Limit swim practice to one hour per session

Reduce the number of pre-season scrimmages from three to two

Reduce the work year for pool operators from 12 to 10 months

Reduce by 50 percent transportation to practice and games

Eliminate holiday tournaments

Eliminate diving program

Total savings: $98,000

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.