Peabody-Burns girls apathetic
Staff writer
Peabody-Burns will not have a girls basketball team for the second season in a row because of a lack of interest among students.
The last year Peabody-Burns participated in girls basketball was the 2019-’20 school year. Practice for the 2020-’21 year was canceled because of the pandemic. Not enough students have shown interest to warrant a 2021-’22 season.
Travis Schafer, who used to coach the team, has become principal at Peabody-Burns Elementary. He doesn’t know what the school is planning for the team.
“I think COVID hit them pretty good last year,” he said. “A lot of girls went to online schooling.”
Principal Tyler Schroeder has informed other league schools that Peabody will not be participating.
“We’ve done our diligence,” he said. “Most of our league schools have been understanding.”
Previous players say the lack of a team upsets them.
Shroeder said he had not received complaints from students nor parents.
Peabody-Burns will field a boys team, leaving an uneven number of sports between boys and girls. Schroeder said the school could be in violation of Title IX, which concerns sexual equality in schools.
Peabody-Burns is looking into other sports, including swimming, to rebalance activities.
“We just don’t have the numbers to justify the program,” he said.
The junior high still is offering girls basketball.