During the 2013-14 school year, Northshore School District (NSD) began shifting ninth-grade sports from junior high schools to high schools, generating both support and opposition from parents.

During the 2011-2012 school year, the NSD School Board created a task force composed of parents, coaches and administrators to look at implementing the transition.

Northshore School District is one of the only districts in the state to still have ninth-grade sports in junior high. According to Leanna Albrecht, spokesperson for the district, the board was concerned about students not receiving adequate training and development at a junior high level compared to other schools in the state.

In 2013, the task force recommended the School Board move ninth-grade sports to high schools in advance of the 2017 grade reconfiguration, when the grade will be absorbed into district high schools.

But this has raised concerns from some parents like Wendy Reynolds, whose ninth-grade daughter plays tennis, a sport which was moved to high schools this year. The district does not offer transportation for students to practice, and Reynolds had to buy her daughter a high school Associated Student Body (ASB) activities card and pay a sports fee, costing more than $200. This was in addition to a junior high ASB card for $30.

Soccer is the only ninth-grade sport still played at junior high schools, and will be moved up next year.

“Honestly, only rich kids can get up there, it’s totally inequitable,” Reynolds said.

ASB cards are required for students to participate in student activities like playing on sports teams and in school bands.

So if a ninth-grader wants to participate in a junior high jazz band and a basketball team, they would have to purchase ASB cards from both the junior high and high school, as well as pay associated fees.

Coupled with transportation concerns, Reynolds said through conversations with other parents, she’s worried this is a barrier to students playing sports.

“My bigger concern was there’s kids who can’t play this year because this decision was put in place by the district to move all the sports up before they moved the grades up,” she said.

Albrecht said these concerns were anticipated and discussed by the School Board when they made their decision.

“The School Board carefully considered all the variables associated with moving,” Albrecht said. “Recognizing there are some challenges with that, they voted to support the move.”

High school sports fees are assessed based on a seasonal basis, topping out at $308 annually for one student.

For families with multiple students in sports programs, the per-student fee is $121 per student for each sport, up to a maximum of $484 per year, per family.

The district also offers a 50 percent price reduction for low-income families.

These fees go to cover uniforms, game transportation and facilities expenses, among others.

Junior high sports fees are substantially less at $100 per student, per sport, maxing out at $200 annually. For families with multiple students, the fees are $70 per student per sport with a $280 a year maximum.

Inglemoor High School athletic director Lance Gatter said this makes sense for the district.

“There’s not an extra fee for any of this, they’re just paying the fees at the place they’re participating,” he said.

He said the fees cover expenses at the facility where the sports practices are held.

But for some families, getting to the high schools in the middle of the afternoon can be a problem.

Transportation concerns Reynolds, who said forcing students and parents to find their own rides to practice creates more hardship for some families.

For more affluent parents, Reynolds said taking an hour off work to shuttle a car full of students to and from practice may be easier than for some.

Albrecht acknowledged this is a problem, but also unavoidable.

“The unique challenge that Northshore has is there currently aren’t available buses to transport ninth graders from the junior high to the high school,” she said. “It’s an imperfect system, but it is a system that we are operating in right now.”

District high schools are released around 2 p.m., while junior high schools get out around 2:30 p.m. Elementary schools are staggered, with some releasing at 3:10 p.m. and others at 3:40 p.m.

Albrecht said all available district buses are used to shuttle elementary students home, saying when the task force made their recommendation, parents in support of moving ninth-grade sports suggested parents carpool their student athletes.

Adding one bus route for sports transportation at each of the district’s six junior highs would cost around $300,000, Albrecht said.

Reynolds said she carpools, driving her daughter and other students to and from practice, but she said she’s had more students ask for rides than she has space.

In 2017 when the ninth grade is absorbed into high schools, Albrecht said the problem will disappear and the district has no plans for stopgap transportation measures.

In the meantime, ninth-grade athletes and their families are faced with the reality that in order to play, they’ll have to pay more and find their own rides.