Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home school officials and students were caught flat-footed last week by an announcement that boys and girls will no longer be able to compete in separate forestry competitions.
Forestry competition events have been divided between boys and girls, Jacks and Jills, with a division also available for Jack-and-Jill partners. Some events, such as the hose lay, and technical events like first aid, are already combined.
Sweet Home High School Natural Resources teacher Blake Manley announced the decision to his classes after receiving an email from the state Friday morning.
“Under federal and state law you may not have single events and activities, for males and females, you just can have events and activities open to all,” said Kirk Hutchinson, executive director of the Future Natural Resource Leaders of Oregon, which organizes competitions. “Our current Jack, Jill, and Jack and Jill, CDEs are not allowed at any school or state sponsored events.”
“Moving forward with our forestry competitions, guys and girls are no longer separate,” Manley said. Girls will have to reach 30 feet instead of 20 feet on the pole climb against guys who are bigger, stronger and faster. “Our girls have now been told you have to compete against guys.”
One girl who who recently joined the program, Manley said, is probably not going to continue.
From his experience, he knows she would place, and it would have been exciting for her, Manley said.
If the playing field were different, he said, she would come back and she would continue to get better throughout her high school career.
Senior Becky Belcher, last year’s state champion Jill, told The New Era she is ready to call it a day.
“I did track my freshman year,” said Belcher, who established herself as a top thrower on the track team during a month of competing for the Huskies. “The reason I quit, I had more fun in forestry. If it was like this my freshman year, I would never have joined.”
If this ruling stands, Belcher said, she’ll go back to track in the spring.
And Belcher is the “best in the state,” Manley noted.
“A select group of girls went to the Department of Education and said they wanted to compete against guys,” said Manley as he understood the situation, because in the industry, there is no difference between men and women. They all have to be able to do the job.
With a male or female choker setter, “I’m going to expect both of you to set a choker equally,” Manley said.
Regardless, he said, the competitions are about fun, and they’re a chance to attract interest and provide girls the opportunity to learn natural resources, skills they may apply to future forestry jobs or other areas of employment.
When freshmen place in a competitive event, they get excited about participating in the natural resources program, Manley said. That drives them to learn more, to get better and do better as they continue through high school.
Now, when girls come out to a competition, they’re less likely to win that ribbon, he said. They won’t have that excitement, and they’re far less likely to be interested in the natural resources program long term.
Under the new requirement, the number of potential ribbons is reduced from 18 to 12 for most events, six for individuals and six for teams.
If that rule were in effect during last year’s home competition, according to data compiled by Manley, nine boys would have placed in cable splicing, while three girls would have placed. In cross cut, 10 boys would have placed, while just two girls would have. In the ax throw, four boys would have placed, with two girls getting medals.
Just one category appeared equitable, with three boys and three girls placing in power bucking.
In cable splicing, a girl from Sweet Home would have placed second. In crosscut, the best a girl would have done is fifth place.
A girl would have placed third in the ax throw. Both who placed are from Sweet Home.
“For some of you, this doesn’t change anything,” Manley told the students last week. “For some of you, this fundamentally changes your life.
“I’m really disappointed. I really just don’t feel it’s equitable. It’s limiting opportunity.”
“How’s it different than basketball?” asked Belcher, one of the top players on the Husky varsity team this year, during the class.
Manley said that organizers didn’t know what the ramifications are going to be, so the local advisory committee has chosen to suspend Sweet Home’s home competition in the upcoming season.
“We’ve been encouraged to write letters to the ODE to tell them about the opportunities that are being lost,” Manley told The New Era. “This is a male-dominated industry. We all know that. The question I always get is ‘why can’t we get more girls in this industry?’
“(The decision) limited opportunity where opportunity used to be. This was a way to get them more confident without overpowering them.”
Sweet Home School District administrators learned about the decision Friday afternoon and have not had time to learn more about it.
Supt. Tom Yahraes learned about the decision late Friday as well, and he is seeking additional information.
“The intent of Title IX is to provide opportunities,” Yahraes said based on the information he had so far. “It looks like we’re shutting (opportunities) down.
“I still want to talk to ODE (to) show me how the ruling directly applied to the Forestry Club.”
Sweet Home High School Assistant Principal Nate Tyler, athletic director and career and technical education coordinator, said he doesn’t know the justification behind the decision yet, but on the information he has so far, combining the teams has the potential to be a Title IX issue.
“It closes the door on the interest,” Tyler said. “There’s a reason why they put on a skilled trades show just for women.”
It’s not because industries have problems getting men to apply, he said.
ODE officials did not respond to requests for information by the School District or The New Era Friday and had not responded by press time.
According to The Compass student newspaper in the North Clackamas School District, a female forestry student complained after the events of a tournament in Tillamook on Oct. 26.
She was preparing for the boys log-rolling competition where she was interested in competing at a different level to get better at her craft, according to the report.
Prior to the competition, a volunteer judge from Sweet Home asked, “What? Is this a transgender event now?” He followed up asking the girl, “Do you know what you’re doing?” according to the report.
Manley wanted to clarify that there is no transgender person involved with this issue.
The girl said she faced additional bullying after that event, according to The Compass report.
KATU reported that the girl and her sister, who attend Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technical Center in the North Clackamas School District, met with ODE civil rights and Title IX specialists to report their concerns.