Bay Port is a very well funded school and has many resources available. However it seems to many that Bay Port puts more energy and money into the football team than in other sports. While the football team is certainly well deserved to be funded and is important to the school, there are other sports and activities in this school that need some attention.

I understand that the football team is very popular and brings in a lot of funding during the season, so I can see why they focus on football so much and maybe put other sports.

But there are other things in this school that need funding aside from the popular sports.

For example, I believe every person in this school can vouch and say there is a major issue with the schools Wifi. In recent weeks, the Wifi has been especially bad, going out for almost entire days. When the Wifi goes out how are teachers supposed to expect students to do their assignments and get them turned in on time?

I myself and other students rely on the time we have in school to get our work done because we know we may not be able to after school. Meaning the Wifi is essential for students to pass their classes. As far as I’m aware, however, the school has had Wifi issues for a while now and still has yet to fix it. I understand that it is bigger than a school issue and it has more to deal with the server of our WiFi, but there has to be a solution

The Wifi isn’t the only thing that needs to be funded more, other types of technology for teachers are needed. One of my teachers has expressed concerns about her smart board to the class. She’s stated that once it dies the school won’t provide her another one. Even though that tool is essential for her teaching and makes teaching classes easier for her and for us students. 

More funding towards the fine arts is also needed, even though stage crew for the fall play and spring musical are very good at recycling things they have used in the past, it would still be nice if they had a bit more to work with. Because they, too, do bring in a revenue – albeit smaller than football.

Like I’ve previously stated, other sports, aside from football, seem to be more neglected just because they don’t bring in the revenue that football does. Students have complained about not getting new gear for their teams while the football team gets expensive gear.

However this is not to say that other sports go completely unnoticed. The baseball team was given a new field, other teams such as soccer are allowed to use this new field.  

It’s unfortunate that necessary things we need for this school seem to be brushed under the rug, such as the WiFi.

So then the questions follow, how much money should be dispersed amongst sports? Dispersed amongst activities? Other necessary items? How much should everyone get? Should it be equal? How do we split up money?

The issue with having such a big diverse school is there’s many things that need to be funded. As much as it would be great that every sport, band/orchestra, the arts, and the many other things this school has that just can’t be possible. Bay Port has to pick and choose which areas to focus on more than others.

There must be some type of solution for this, whatever that may be I hope they figure out something that will benefit all athletes, all activities, all students.

This article originally appeared in The Portside News.