&
BIG BAND, BIG BANG Jazz and swing traditions come alive with 17-piece orchestra.
A-13
The Gazette ROCKVILLE | ASPEN HILL | WHEATON
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
25 cents
Rock Terrace program criticized Probe finds ‘no attempts’ to defraud students; principal to retire n
BY
BRANDON ENG
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
Walt Whitman
An initial investigation by Montgomery County Public Schools found the work-study program at Rock Terrace School was “poorly managed” and “money was inappropriately used,” according to a Thursday letter from Christopher S. Garran, associate superintendent of county high schools, to the school’s parents. However, there does not appear to have been fraudulent activity by school staff, the letter says. The Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office is continuing to investigate the allegations with assistance from the school system. Thursday’s letter said the school’s principal, Dianne G. Thornton, who had been on administrative leave, announced her retirement effective
JOEY SHAVATT Bowie
LEXI D’ORSANEO Bowie
LINDSEY JANOSKIE Paint Branch
See SCHOOL, Page A-8
NICOLE WARREN James H. Blake
In the search for a college athletic scholarship, parents have endless opportunities to spend money, including youth teams, camps run by college coaches, buying top equipment, and online recruiting sites that market athletes. The trend has led to children specializing in sports at earlier ages, which has led to more serious injuries, youth giving up free time to chase their athletic dreams, and in some cases burnout. Another trend is that many top athletes now are being forced to choose between their club and high school teams.
Elite athletes sacrifice to play prep sports Most college recruiting now takes place outside of high school competition n
BY JENNIFER BEEKMAN STAFF WRITER
Thomas S. Wootton High School tennis star Titas Bera went undefeated this spring, winning his third consecutive county singles championship and the state boys doubles title. Bera, a rising senior, hasn’t lost a singles match in three years of
See ELITE, Page A-10
$5B
Nationwide spending on youth sports each year.
$2B
Amount of athletic scholarships awarded by Division I and II schools each year.
Only 2 percent of youth athletes earn scholarships that average about $11,000 n
BY
Early start can lead to burn out
C
STAFF WRITER
30M
Children nationwide (18 to 5) who participate in youth sports each year.
3.5M
Children nationwide under 14 who receive medical treatment for a sports injury in a year.
A-10
Online services change recruiting A-11
TRAVIS MEWHIRTER
andy Thurman had a rough idea how much she was spending on her daughters’ athletic pursuits — between $11,000 to $14,000. She knew that a field hockey stick went for $150 to $400 and that letting her children play on the Futures team — field hockey’s version of the Amateur Athletic Union — would cost nearly $3,000. While it was happening, though, “I didn’t realize I was spending all that money on it,” said Thurman, the Montgomery Blair High School field hockey coach. She chuckles now, thinking about the expenses of youth sports — the lucrative industry it has become. Baltimore author Mark Hyman wrote a book on the topic, titled “The Most Expensive
Doctors see more injuries
A-11
Game in Town.” In it, he estimated that parents spend $5 billion a year on youth sports. He says that’s a low guess; it doesn’t include gas and other expenses parents pay just getting their children to practice. Thurman’s daughter, Taylor, could run up a bill of $5,000 to $7,000 a year just on field hockey. Just one event on her Futures team cost about $2,800. Add in swimming and track, and that’s another $3,000 to $4,000. That’s just one child, who competes at Oberlin College in Ohio, but is not on scholarship. “Few athletes get full rides,” Thurman said.
Students who receive either partial or full athletic scholarships.
PASTA IS PART OF THE CURRICULUM
A group of about 40 high school students competed to build a sturdy spaghetti structure.
A-4
SPORTS
STEPPING HIS WAY TO THE TOP Bethesda man rises to among the best in the world at competitive stair climbing.
B-1
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
70%
Children who drop out of youth sports by age 13. Reasons cited are adults, coaches and parents.
Automotive
Program has provided 11 units this year BY
See SCHOLARSHIPS, Page A-11
145K
Rockville coolly gives AC units to those in need n
SOURCES: MARK HYMAN, BALTIMORE-BASED AUTHOR OF ‘THE MOST EXPENSIVE GAME IN TOWN’; NCAA; CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION; SAFE KIDS (CHILDREN’S NATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER)
NEWS
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Alfred Thompson, community services referral coordinator for Rockville, delivers a donated air conditioner to Irma Ward on Thursday.
Thursday night was pretty cool for Irma Ward of Rockville and her family. Literally. The hum of a new window air conditioner provided by Rockville’s Community Services Division spoke volumes about the major change in Ward’s quality of living. “I am very, very happy,” Ward said Friday morning. “We had a good night’s sleep” With temperatures last week soaring well into the mid- and upper 90s, and the heat indices sometimes breaking 100, Ward said her house on Baltimore Road was hot day and night. An old air conditioner that once kept her family cool had long since stopped working, making Ward, her
See COOL, Page A-6
B-14
Calendar
A-2
Classified
B-10
Community News
A-4
Entertainment
A-13
Opinion
A-12
Sports
B-1 Please
RECYCLE
Check out our Services Directory ADVERTISING INSIDE B SECTION
1889685