Bay City’s Board of Education Considers Athletic Program Improvements

Fifth graders in Bay City’s elementary schools may soon be competing on athletic teams. During the local school board’s committee of the whole session Monday night, trustees considered reviving the elementary athletic program.

Superintendent Doctor Stephen Bigelow says the renewed program has two benefits give the students a source of pride in their school and encourage academic performance. The Bay City district’s Elementary and Middle School Athletic Director Phil Zanotti said the program would include boys and girls basketball teams and a girls volleyball team. Those teams would join a flag football program already underway in conjunction with programs run by the Dow Bay Area Family Y.

Zanotti estimated it would cost an estimated $65,000 to get the program up and running. The revised program would also include teaching all fifth graders how to swim as part of a physical education classes.

Bay City School District trustees are considering making a $10,000 donation to the Bay Community Tennis Association’s new tennis facility. Superintendent Doctor Stephen Bigelow says the donation would help the association’s effort to win up to $50,000 in a matching grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

The board, if the donation is approved next week, would restrict the donation to help with the cost of building a storage and bathroom facility at the site. The eight tennis courts are being built on the former Thomas Jefferson Elementary School site on Park, north of Ridge Road. The school district still owns the property.