After failing to pass a tax referendum during the 2010-2011 school year, the RB school board cut 22 extracurricular activities as part of an effort to reduce the school budget.

While a majority of RB’s after school activities are no longer active, there are still a few left.

Anime Club is one of these surviving clubs. In Anime Club, students watch and discuss different anime, a term referring to a Japanese style of animation. Many students go to the club every Monday to relax and enjoy themselves after a long first day of the week.

Nick Schliep, sophomore, has been a member of Anime Club since last year.

“I didn’t really expect the club to be cut. We don’t really use any money,” he said.

Another club member, junior Neil Donegan, regarding any possible changes in the club this year, said, “We are trying to add more activities this year.  We also hope more people will join since there aren’t as many clubs this year.”

Another club that wasn’t cut was Ecology Club. The sponsor for Eco Club is Science teacher David Monti. In Eco Club students talk about current environmental topics and issues. They also participate in local restoration projects such as Project N.I.C.E. in Brookfield.

 After being asked how he felt about his club not being cut, Monti, who is also the RBEA Teachers Union President, said, “I spoke about it over the summer with the school board.  I think that it should have been cut just like the other clubs that were.”

One of the changes to Eco Club this year is that Science teacher Jame Holt is now a co-sponsor.  Holt was one of the founding teachers of the SEE Team, an environmental group/class for freshmen, which was cut at the end of this past school year.

Holt said, “I’m excited about being a part of Eco Club, since SEE Team was cut.”

 When asked why his club wasn’t cut, Monti said, “The school board originally said that SEE Team wasn’t going to be cut, but when it was, Eco Club was considered important enough to keep.  One of them (SEE Team or Eco Club) needed to be kept, and since SEE Team was more expensive and enrollment for it had gone down, it was the one that got cut.”

A list of the remaining active clubs and sponsors at RB is available on the school web site.

The link also includes a notice about how to go about restoring an inactive club.