After discovering a projected $70,000 deficit for the Westford Community Rowing program, home of the local crew team, Westford town officials made the decision to lay off two full-time crew coaches and shift the adult crew programs to the nonprofit Friends of Westford Community Rowing. WA has made preliminary plans to possibly take on the Westford-Littleton Community Crew as a varsity sport.

Westford Academy’s crew team, while one of the most popular sports at the high school, is not in fact an official school sport. The Westford-Littleton Community Crew is affiliated with Westford Community Rowing, and operates in tandem with the Parks and Recreation Department.

When carrying out a fiscal review for the year 2018, which runs from July to June, Town Manager Jodi Ross saw that the crew program was running a significant deficit that was projected to increase over time. The Parks and Recreation Department was taking on the deficit, so Westford taxpayers were ultimately paying the money.

As a result, Ross decided to lay off two full-time coaches, Michael-Anne Sevick and K.C. Lumbard, who were new hires this September. Instead, the crew team will operate off contracted coaches, which will save enormous costs due to a lack of not only a full-time salary but insurance, pensions, and other benefits.

On Monday, November 27, Ross contacted the two coaches to inform them that they would be laid off. According to her, a message was then circulated that Ross was disbanding the crew team and seizing the boats, leading to widespread panic among students and parents in the crew community.

“That was complete misinformation that was sent out […] we just needed to take a step back, and think about how to handle it moving forward,” Ross said. 

As the message spread that crew was going to be disbanded, large numbers of students and parents from Westford and Littleton alike attended the Board of Selectmen meeting on November 28 where the budget deficit was discussed. Ross met with about 60 parents and rowers two days later, and says that most were supportive of her plan moving forward after being reassured that the crew team was in fact planned to continue.

As of now, Westford Academy has plans to take on the crew team as a school sport. Superintendent Bill Olsen expressed support on the condition that the program was budget neutral, which Ross says will be the case, as students will be paying fees to participate in the program and use the boats.

Previously, students paid a fee of close to $1,000 per year to row with WLCC. Despite the fact that the budget for the high school program will no longer be supported by the Recreation department, Ross remains optimistic that fees may go down due to the fact that there are no longer two full-time salaries to pay. The costs for the full-time coaches were about $100,000, not including benefits.

Now, Friends of Westford Community Rowing will be buying most of the equipment, including boats, although without support from the town. It will be reorganizing from a nonprofit into an independent, for-profit organization.

Ross plans to negotiate a memorandum of agreement that will allow the whole town to share the boats. However, costs for regattas and banquets will likely be handled by the high school and student fees.

As for adult courses, they will be shifted to Friends of Westford Community Rowing, taught with the assistance of contracted coaches.

“We’re looking into taking on a high-school team, and there’s still a lot of logistics that we’re trying to iron out,” Athletic Director Adam Gagne said. “We want to give [crew athletes] an opportunity to row for Westford Academy.”

Gagne doesn’t know when exactly the direction of the crew team will be finalized, but mentions that they will be working the situation out over the coming months to be ready for the spring season.

“I’m willing to try and work around any potential roadblocks,” he said.

Littleton parents were concerned about their children being unable to participate in the team should WA take it on, says Ross, but an update from Westford Community Rowing affirms that students from other towns will be able to participate.

Ross emphasizes that the nature of crew as a competitive sport is much of what caused the program to go over its budget, as the sport expanded outside the original goals of the Recreation Department.

“Nine years ago, we started a crew program, and we had a nonprofit assisting, and the Rec department was assisting, and we were offering training and classes, but that evolved into a competitive sport – regattas, banquets, and things like that, which is not really what the mission of the town’s recreation department is. So it grew, and it was wonderful, but it kind of got out of whack of what the recreation department does,” she said.