PORTSMOUTH — The canceling of sports and other programs at Portsmouth Middle School this year has gone over like a lead balloon with some parents, some of whom will appear before the school committee Tuesday night to ask for them back.

The cuts — of interscholastic cross country, gymnastics, boys and girls basketball and track and field — were made in May, when the town approved a school budget $509,000 lower than what school officials had asked for. Faced with less than they hoped, school officials began looking for things to cut, and middle school programs "were among them," said Superintendent Timothy Ryan. "The committee really had to wrestle with the reductions."

However, the cuts shouldn't have been made, said at least one of the parents who plans to attend Tuesday night's meeting.

Beth Ethier, who has a son and daughter in the middle school, said the committee should have looked to other areas before deciding to cut programs so crucial to teens.

"It's my hope that they reinstate everything that was in place and hopefully expand it," said Ms. Ethier. "What we provide to the schools and what we get back doesn't nearly equal out. This isn't about my kids; it's about all the kids at the middle school."

On Tuesday, Ms. Ethier submitted an application to speak before the committee at it's next meeting Tuesday, Sept. 14. She said other parents, as well as middle school students, will be there as well.

"We hope there's a way to re-allocate the money," she said. "We're down to a bare bones curriculum now."

However, there are several obstacles to jump-starting the school's sports programs now, said Mr. Ryan and middle school principal Steven Desposito.

Besides the fact that the school's budget is set for the year, Mr. Desposito said the school is no longer affiliated with the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, and therefore not eligible to participate in interscholastic sports within the league.

If the district were somehow to raise money and re-institute sports, said Mr. Desposito, it may be possible to participate in some this year, but not all. It's too late to participate in fall sports like track and field, he said, because the season has already begun.

Like Ms. Ethier, Mr. Desposito said the concern isn't just that sports were cut. Rather, he said, $509,000 shortfall forced a host of tough measures. Besides cutting sports, he said the middle school also lost a guidance counselor, an aide in the nurse's office, and the gifted and talented program.

"I've had some parents comment on it," he said. "They're not happy with it."

Though the town council — and not the school committee — has power to add additional money to the school budget, Ms. Ethier said she still hopes the meeting with the school committee bears fruit. While members might not be able to put new money into the system, she said, they can certainly shuffle funds, she said.

Such a move is the least officials could do, she said; she is upset that programs like sports were cut when principals across the district received large pay raises this past year.

"They get raises, and these programs get cut," she said. "They keep talking about cuts (every year). I never really thought it would be a reality, but here it is."

No new nurse at Middle School

It appears Portsmouth Middle School won't see its first-ever male nurse this year after all.

The nurse, hired last week after a controversy surrounding whether it was appropriate to hire him to work with teenage girls, found another job in the Newport school system, school officials said this week.

"We have a substitute for now," said middle school principal Steve Desposito.

The question of whether to hire the nurse first came up several weeks ago, when school committee members were considering a hiring committee's recommendation that he be hired to fill a vacancy at the middle school.

Though the recommendation was to hire, a parent in the audience suggested having a male nurse might not be a wise choice at the middle school, especially in dealing with female students. Rather than vote on the hiring, school committee members said they would wait a week — until after they'd had a chance to see a background check on the man — before making a decision.

After reading the background check, committee members met last Tuesday and voted unanimously last week to hire the man. They found out a day later, though, that it was too late — he had accepted another job in Newport.

Mr. Desposito said it will be up to the district's hiring committee to look for other qualified candidates.

Want to attend?

What: Portsmouth School Committee meeting

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14

Where: School administration offices, Middle Road

BY TED HAYES

thayes@eastbaynewspapers.com