Aplan to offer winter track and field as a pay-to-participate sport in the Freehold Regional High School District was put on hold by the district’s Board of Education on Aug. 30.
Action on the pay-to-participate proposal for winter track and field may be taken during a special meeting of the board that has been set for Sept. 13.
On Aug. 30, winter track and field athletes and their parents packed the meeting room at the FRHSD’s headquarters in Englishtown, hoping for some solution other than the elimination of the sport.
Administrators announced during the summer that winter track and field, junior varsity cheerleading, and five clubs at each of the district’s six high schools would be eliminated for 2010-11 due to budget constraints.
After hearing the concerns of parents at that time, administrators indicated that winter track and field could be offered to students on a pay-to-participate model.
Business Administrator Sean Boyce brought a resolution before the board on Aug. 30, intending to have a vote on the matter.
The resolution called for students to pay no more than $200 to participate in winter track and field. The fee would depend upon the participation level for the sport at each high school.
Boyce said he estimated the fee would be between $150 and $200 per student.
Students who meet the economic requirements to receive free and reducedprice lunches would have the participation fee waived.
Boyce called the 2010-11 school year a transition year, where changes have been implemented and are likely to change again. He said it is his opinion that the district will move toward a participation fee across all areas of extracurricular activities.
Some members of the public expressed their gratitude at seeing that a resolution other than eliminating winter track and field was on the table.
However, other members of the public asked why winter track and field was selected to be the FRHSD’s first pay-toparticipate sport.
Upon hearing the public’s sentiments that some people would prefer to see acrossthe board participation fees, members of the board decided to table the matter for further investigation.
The board scheduled a special meeting on Sept. 13 to further discuss the pay-toparticipate model.
Parents and students were also present on Aug. 30 to discuss matters related to funding the district’s marching bands.
Peripheral costs, as Boyce called them, included maintaining programs like the marching band, but not funding the band to attend away football games.
Boyce said administrators have determined that the high schools’ marching bands and cheerleaders would be able to attend away football games if the groups raise the funds to cover the cost of sending the students on the road trips.
FRHSD marching bands will be permitted to attend events such as parades and competitions if the groups are able to raise the necessary money to cover the costs.
Band parents objected to not having the marching bands travel to away football games.
One father said that by not allowing the marching bands to attend away football games, administrators were essentially cutting the bands’ events in half. He said that is something that would never been seen for the football team.
Although administrators said the marching bands could raise money for areas of participation that have been cut (away football games, parades, competitions), members of the Manalapan High School marching band and their parents said it was too close to the start of school to begin fundraising, as well as being unfair to expect parents to front the costs of those now eliminated trips.
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