In his duties as Director of Athletics and Student Activities for Broward County Schools, Shawn Cerra oversees 93 athletic directors, 33 high schools, 60 middle schools, and approximately 63,000 student-athletes.
That certainly is a lot of responsibility, but there’s more.
“I’d say I’ve got three major challenges that face me each day,” Cerra tells ITG Next Florida.
Here’s a look at the biggest challenges and opportunities facing Cerra and Broward County athletics.
Student-Athletes Shopping for Schools
“Students shopping for schools happens on a pretty regular basis, and, unfortunately, the result is we’ve had a decent amount of students who have been in multiple schools in their high school careers,” Cerra says.
He spends many days talking with teachers, coaches, administrators, and the students themselves trying to fix what has become a widespread issue not only in his county, but across the entire state of Florida, especially since House Bill 7029, which was signed into law by then-Governor Rick Scott, allowed any student to enroll in any school in Florida that was under its capacity enrollment.
Cerra’s solution for Broward County athletics? “I’m trying to create a culture in our school here in Broward where kids will want to stay,” he says.
Coaching Compensation
“Perhaps my biggest challenge is keeping really top-quality coaches in Broward County,” Cerra admits.
He acknowledges the fact that Broward County coaches are among the lowest paid in the state.
“I believe we rank number 66 out of 67 counties in what we pay coaches for their athletic supplements,” Cerra says.
To drive home the point further, he draws a comparison to Florida’s neighbor to the north.
“A coach in Broward County makes 5 percent of what a coach in Georgia makes,” he tells us.
That, as you can imagine, leads to a high turnover of coaches in Broward County athletics.
“It’s a struggle – we definitely have a lot of coaching movement,” he says.
Cerra says he is always looking to remedy this shortcoming, and help is on the way.
“I’m proud to say that all of our coaches will be making a nice raise,” he says, “But this will be the first raise I have been able to get them in seven years. Currently, coaches in Broward county only get a raise when teachers get a raise, and [teachers] do not get raises every year.”
Academics
Yes, athletics is important, but Cerra’s responsibility is to also make sure Broward County student-athletes understand that academics come first.
“We want to make sure that we are developing kids in the classroom, and then on the field,” he says, reminding everyone that these are “student-athletes, not just athletes.”
National High School Football Showcases
ITG Next has reported recently on the growing trend of high school football showcase events, and Broward County is no exception.
“We just launched a national showcase last year where we had seven nationally ranked teams from across the country come here to play seven of our top teams here in Broward County, and we will be doing that again this year,” Cerra says.
One of the advantages of an event like this, he says, is, “We are able to keep our teams at home to open the season against top-quality opponents.”
Cerra added that with sponsorship opportunities for local businesses, teams will not have to pay to play in this event.
“Teams don’t have to pay, making this an even more attractive event,” Cerra says.
Football will not be the only sport benefitting, either.
“We are going to replicate that same event in basketball by bringing in 16 nationally ranked teams to play our top teams,” Cerra says. “We are trying to build the brand where kids will get the opportunity and memory of a lifetime while we expose our out-of-state visitors to Broward County and give the kids a chance to show their talent and hopefully secure an opportunity to play at the next level.”
