PICHER — The Picher Cardin school board unanimously approved on June 9 a measure to suspend the school’s athletic programs for the 2006-07 academic year, citing low pre-enrollment numbers and lack of interest among students returning in the fall.
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The state’s impending $20 million buyout of the Tar Creek Superfund site has prompted many student athletes to move or transfer to surrounding school districts. The board projected the high school, which enrolled more than 100 students last year, would experience at least a 50 percent decrease in enrollment for Fall 2006.
“When the last buyout announcement was made, we had coaches getting ready to take jobs elsewhere,” said Picher baseball coach Travis Norwood, who will become an assistant softball coach at Northeastern A&M Junior College in the fall. “The students followed. There weren’t enough kids to field any of the athletic teams.”
Details of the buyout have been slow coming since it was announced by Senator Jim Inhofe on May 4. Picher superintendent Robert Walker said that to apply for eligibility hardships, student athletes can’t afford to wait until final details are released.
“We’re leaving the door open for after 2006-07,” Walker said. “But realistically, we’re projecting that once the buyout begins, we probably won’t have enough students to keep the school going.”
In 2005, the Picher softball team made it to the Class A state tournament. Not a single player from that team will return to Picher in the fall.
Two of the school’s all district football players — quarterback Daniel Walker and wide receiver Jordan Beckwith — have approved hardships to play for Commerce this season.
“It’s sad that this is happening,” Picher athletic director Jack Pace said. “But with this buyout coming, our athletes really don’t have a choice but to move on.”
