BELGRADE — The levy regarding Belgrade sports passed on Tuesday night, which means Panthers athletics will continue to be alive and well.
“Wow, I feel great," said activities director Toby Robinson. "I feel like I can actually go to sleep tonight, not wake up five times in the middle of night and wonder what if.”
Certain high school sports and all sub-varsity and middle school sports were going to be cut if the levy didn’t pass. Around 2,500 more voters hit the polls than the last time a levy was voted upon, and it had about two-thirds of the community’s support.
“There’s going to be kids participating in music and art, speech and debate, sports activities, we’re back to normal," Robinson said. "I really want to thank the whole community as a whole because I knew Belgrade was going to do it. I really did."
Sports will continue to operate the same. This just allowed all the after-school activities to survive.
“That’s all it is, is just being able to continue doing what we’re doing," said Robinson. "We’ve got great people in place and we just want to continue with it. When the question is asked, 'Well, what now?' There’s no turf field in the future, this is about just being able to continue what we're doing and I appreciate the community's support on that more than they know.”
Now Robinson and the Belgrade community don’t have to worry about what kids are going to do after school.
“Two-thousand kids running around at 3:30 in the afternoon is not a really positive thing," he said. "They need something to do and I want to be able to supply that for them and we did, Belgrade did it.”
On Wednesday, Robinson brought his students out in front of the school with signs showing the people of Belgrade how thankful they are.
“This yard sign hopefully says it all, thank you," Robinson said while showing off a sign. "I can’t thank you guys enough because as a community, we have to grow with (Class) AA, we have to be able to provide for our families, our kids, our community, and without you guys we can’t do it.”
