MONROE, New York (WABC) -- Parents and students in Orange Country are outraged after their ice hockey team was suddenly cut. The school district blames budget and travel issues over this, but the parents say they were not given time to raise money.
The timing of the announcement was painful - happening right before the team's end-of-season banquet. The problem is other school districts had dropped the sport, so the Monroe Crusaders needed to travel quite a bit to play their games. Home ice is half an hour away from Newburgh, and eliminating hockey could save up to $30,000 per year.
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On Wednesday, they packed a Board of Education expressing their anger and disappointment. Superintendent Elsie Rodriguez said, 'Our intent was to maintain their team until other Orange County districts would reinstate their hockey program. We have since learned that these districts are developing other program offerings rather than bringing back hockey, and Monroe-Woodbury is now looking to do the same.'
Parents were hoping for the opportunity to fundraise to offset some of those costs. The meeting will be scheduled between some of the parents and the superintendent, but as of now, no word that that hockey program has indeed been saved.