Oswego SD308 approves contracts for high school athletic trainers

Oswego SD308 is entering into a three-year agreement with Athletico for athletic training services for its high schools.

At their July 31 meeting, school board members unanimously approved the contract.

“Largely speaking, this three-year contract will bring Oswego East and Oswego High School under the same contract for the next three years, giving us some known costs to work off of, which really puts us in a better position to the increase in costs year after year for athletic trainers,” Dan Arntzen, the district’s executive director of high school instruction and K-12 assessments, previously told school board members.

The cost for the first year would be $176,000. That would increase to $181,280 in the second year of the contract and to $181,718.40 in the third year.

The cost includes two athletic trainers at each high school working 40 hours a week during the IHSA school year.

“One of the key aspects that athletic trainers play in our school system and specifically after school activities is really a safety issue and injury prevention,” Arntzen said.

Athletic training costs have increased in recent years because of additional educational requirements required by law. Darren Howard, district and Oswego High School athletic director, told board members that athletic trainers now must have a master’s degree.

“That was not the case in the past,” he said. “Also, during the COVID time, neither Athletico nor ATI raised prices on us, although they were taking price increases themselves. So we’re just at the point where that price increase is coming to the end user.”

Between the two high schools, the district hosts about 1,300 athletic contests a year. Board member Jennifer Johnson asked why the district goes to an outside contractor for the services rather than hiring a district employee.

“We’ve looked into that,” Arntzen said in reply. “Financially right now, it is still in our best interests to hire Athletico. Other districts have gone that route. There are some added benefits to that, there’s no doubt. But financially, right now, the best course of action for us is to go with Athletico for the three-year deal.”

One added benefit to hiring a district employee, he said, would be to have a familiar person working in a building.

“We don’t always have that with outside athletic trainers, because sometimes they come and go as other employees do,” Arntzen said. “From my previous experience as an athletic director, and Darren can speak to this as well, when we have an athletic trainer sticking around for years at a time, it adds tremendous value to the organization.”