After about 20 years of offering various recreational and extracurricular activities to the community, the Tahoma School District is eliminating the Tahoma Learning Community  program.

The program was established before the city was incorporated and before any of these opportunities existed, said Kevin Patterson, director of communication for the district.

After an overall review of the district’s programs, district officials sent a letter to the TLC participants last fall explaining the closure.

Some of the activities, however, will continue with the help of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

About nine of the 30 individual programs from TLC will be taken over by the city. They range from youth sports to art and dog obedience classes.

“It’s a good blend (of arts and sports) and complements what we already do,” said Greg Brown, parks and recreation director for Maple Valley.

Brown presented his recommendation to the City Council at the May 26 meeting. He said the council was in concurrence to go ahead with his plan to take over the selected programs.

The cost of continuing the programs is predicted to not have a budgetary impact.

“It’s a cost-neutral position that we would assume,” Brown said.

The biggest cost to the city is to increase a half-time position to full time. But, Brown said, that and the other costs associated with running the programs will be balanced by future participants’ registration fees.

In regard to where the sports activities will take place, an interlocal agreement between the district and the city for the use of sports facilities is in the works, with an expected final draft to be complete in the next month, Brown said.

Because the city doesn’t own the facilities necessary to host some of the sports activities, the interlocal agreement would allow those now city-operated programs to continue to use facilities across the district.

The switch from the district’s reins to the city’s will take place this summer for some of the activities and for all of them later this fall.

Officially, the district will discontinue the Tahoma Learning Community program June 30.