Blue Valley flag football hopefuls must raise thousands of dollars by Friday to play

KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.

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Blue Valley students and parents are racing to raise $131,000 by Friday to fund flag football teams at the district's five high schools.

Kansas will sponsor girls flag football as a high school sport for the first time this fall. But for seniors in the Blue Valley School District, it will take a last-minute fundraising miracle to actually see the field.

The districts surrounding Blue Valley — including Olathe, Shawnee Mission, Kansas City, Kansas, Gardner-Edgerton and Mill Valley — will field girls flag football teams along with three area Catholic schools — Bishop Miege, St. James Academy and St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Blue Valley Schools Board of Education voted against funding teams at its five high schools, citing budget pressures from declining enrollment and the continued underfunding of special education.

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“Blue Valley Schools recognizes the role athletics and activities play in a well-rounded education,” the district said in a statement. “Due to significant budget challenges, including declining enrollment and the continued underfunding of special education, the district has had to make difficult decisions about adding new programs absent available and specified funding.”

Blue Valley Schools Superintendent Gillian Chapman went into more detail in a letter to Jenny Steinhauser, a Blue Valley parent and staunch girls flag football supporter.

Chapman noted that the Kansas Legislature’s failure to fully fund special education has forced Blue Valley to deplete its general fund, which is from where money for new programs — like flag football — typically would come.

To remain solvent, Blue Valley made cuts to other programs, including the elementary school orchestra and arts programs.

“We cannot realistically propose adding a sport given the most recent reductions,” Chapman said via email to Steinhauser.

The news hit students hard.

"Honestly, I was shocked, because out of all the schools in Kansas, I would think Blue Valley would be a very big supporter, especially of girls football," Blue Valley West senior Marielle Anderson said.

"When I heard that they weren't going to actually have it, I was really bummed," Blue Valley West senior Grace Hawley added.

The students also understood to a degree.

"It's kind of devastating, but I know a lot of cuts are being made," Blue Valley West senior Anneliese Nguyen said.

Still, it stood in stark contrast to spring when Kansas State High School Activities Association announced the new sport.

"Oh my gosh, I was so excited," Blue Valley Northwest senior Kyra Becker said. “I love football, everything about it. My family's always grown up watching it.”

Nguyen relished the chance to become more connected with her school community.

"I don’t play a sport, so I've always wanted to play some type of sport at school and just kind of support the school, kind of represent our school,” she said. “When I heard that flag football was going to be a thing for girls, I was so interested.”

Hawley was leading the charge to get her friends excited to give flag football a try.

"I think it'd be super exciting to play like my senior year because it's the first year it's getting started up,” she said. “That would just be a really cool opportunity to be part of getting that started.”

The Hail Mary for flag football hopefuls in the Blue Valley district is a grassroots fundraiser Steinhauser helped organize.

Steinhauser said the girls must raise $131,000 to fund junior varsity and varsity teams at all five high schools, or $13,000 for a single combined Blue Valley varsity team.

"We would love more than that to be able to have more than one program, but at the very minimum we just want this sport offered for the girls in the Blue Valley School District,” Steinhauser said. “We don't want them to be the only school district in the Kansas City area on the Kansas side not to offer this program.”

For the seniors, the stakes feel personal.

"I feel like if it did come to Blue Valley West or any of the Blue Valley schools, it's a great way to end senior year and just my high school experience overall," Anderson said.

"It'd mean everything, especially my senior year," Becker added.

To support the Blue Valley flag football fundraiser, click here.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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