MCCSC adds activity fee, cuts summer school
By
Elvia Malagon |
IDS
POSTED AT
11:11 PM ON Sep. 23, 2008
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Beginning this year Monroe County Community School Corporation students will have to pay more to get involved in sports or extra curricular activities.
Parents of high school students received letters dated Sept. 18 informing them of the new $20 fee that students are required to pay for each sport or activity they are involved in, said Teresa Grossi, president of the board of trustees. Instructions for paying a $20 activity/season fee will be sent to MCCSC students currently involved in a sport or extra curricular activity, according to the letter.
The fee was approved on Sept. 16 by the Board of Trustees, as well as other changes to the transportation budget for this year. Changes to the transportation budget come as the MCCSC is forecasting a $150,000 deficit as soon as December if things are not altered in the transportation department.
Four activity buses will be purchased with the activity fee money to cut down on the cost of transporting students outside of Bloomington for sporting or organizational events, Grossi said.
“If a child cannot pay (the fee) we will be able to figure it out,” Grossi said. “Booster clubs are trying to help pay for students who can’t pay.”
Grossi said the buses will be operated by coaches or sponsors of organizations to reduce not only fuel costs but the labor costs as well. She said big sports such as football will still use the traditional form of transportation because of the number of students who participate in it and the equipment that must be transported.
Bloomington High School South Principal Mark Fletcher said the new way of transporting students is estimated to save the total transportation budget 25 to 40 percent.
The idea of the activity buses came after both Fletcher and Bloomington High School in North Principal Jeff Henderson discussed it with other conference Indiana schools, Fletcher said.
A sports/activity fee isn’t the only thing students and parents should expect from the new budget.
Another change includes eliminating summer school beginning in the summer of 2009.
“Summer school is not something that we wanted to (cut),” Fletcher said. “I think students will be able to make up classes. Right now we have 60 opportunities to receive credits.”
Fletcher said only 40 credits are required for students to graduate from high school.
Students will still make up credits to graduate on time by using a program called NovaNet during the school year, Fletcher said.
Comptroller for MCCSC Tim Thrasher said other changes to the budget include changing the days when the elementary strings program will occur to cut down on the number of bus trips. The strings program is a music program that is not taught during the normal school day.
Thrasher said although there are several changes, he does not think it will affect students severely.
“Most changes the students won’t see themselves,” Thrasher said. “We are still providing services at the same level.”