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Dropped from school funding:
Special Olympics looking for local support

By Barbara Brown
John von Lange has been watching his daughter Sheila compete in athletic events for years.
He and his wife Laura have traveled all over Minnesota to attend regional and statewide competitions.
The family has counted themselves lucky, von Lange said last week, that they had the opportunity to be involved.
Sheila, now 20, was a Special Olympics athlete until last year.
Special Olympics provides sports opportunities for individuals with learning disabilities at all levels. The Special Olympics World Summer Games, recognized by the International Olympic Committee, take place the year before the Olympic Games.
Von Lange said the team was organized through a school-based program in which the North Branch school district paid for uniforms, transportation and, occasionally, overnight stays in hotels at venues hours away from North Branch.
When last summerís state Special Olympics games came around, the team was excited to go, von Lange said.
That was until the teamís leadership got word that the group no longer had funding from the school district.
According to von Lange, the school board agreed to disband the school-based Special Olympics program in exchange for a curriculum based alternative physical education program.
The drawback, however, von Lange said, is that the athletes miss out on the chance to compete against other athletes, win trophies and have the satisfaction that comes from earning recognition for doing well in a physical sport for which many Special Olympics athletes might otherwise be passed up because they cannot afford transportation or overnight stays at regional and state competitions.
North Branch School District board president Rick Olseen said the board believes Special Olympics is a ìreally great program,î but that it did not seem appropriate for a school to fund.
ìWe thought about it at the time and decided that it would be more appropriate to offer the Minnesota State High School Leagueís special education program,î Olseen said Monday night.
Von Lange said overnight stays in Biwabik, where the Winter Games are held, can cost up to $100 per night.
He said the team also is looking for a new place to practice and hold meetings.
A small group of parents and a couple volunteers from the area are trying to reorganize the group into a community base program, but von Lange said the group plans to approach the school board with a cost sharing plan the would alleviate some pressure until the community based team could get rolling.
Olseen said the board should be willing to hear the groupís plea.
He said he couldnít see why the board would turn down a request for a partnership, but that complete funding as was previously known probably would not return.
Tom Colwell, the sports program manager for areas that include the North Branch school district told a gathering of four last week that the work ahead of the group will be hard, but that the state Special Olympics office will help in any way possible.
Colwell said the group right now needs to work on getting the word out that a new team is organizing and look for people to volunteer their time and expertise for fund-raising, transportation coordination, financial management and record keeping.
ìThe school board by no means has to support the Special Olympics program,î Colwell said.
He said, however, that without the district funding, the group will have to recruit athletes and volunteers through other means than the schools.
In Minnesota, Special Olympics athletes can compete in a number of sports.
January brings the outdoor winter games, which include alpine and nordic skiing and snowshoeing; the indoor winter games include figure skating, floor hockey, roller skating and unified bowling; March is basketball month; April brings the Spring Sports Classic with competition in aquatics, power lifting and volleyball.
The state Summer Games include competitions in several track and field events and gymnastics.
July brings softball tournaments and the Fall Sports Festival rounds out the competitions with boche ball, golf, table tennis and equestrian events.
The regional equestrian competition will be held Saturday at the Mission Creek Ranch in Beroun.

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