No Pay-To-Participate Sports for 2011-12

Hopatcong families won't have to pay extra fees for high school sports during the next school year.

The Board of Education voted, 7-1, to not implement a pay-to-participate plan for after-school activities in 2011-2012. The stipulation: It said it must decide by Jan. 1 whether it will adopt a pay-to-participate plan for the following school year.

The move nullified the for its policy committee build a pay-to-play model for implementation by Sept. 1.

President Cliff Lundin said the 2011-2012 budget contained enough money for all programs to exist. "The sports programs are, in fact, intact," he said.

Board member Joan Reilly was the only "no" vote. She said she wanted pay-to-participate to begin next fall, but with low fees to help parents adjust. Board member Sue Madar was absent.

"Start it small right now, a minimal amount to the parents. Get them used to it," Reilly said. "And then build up a little. You're losing more and more parents that are coming into ninth grade that are used to paying to play sports all of their lives ... I am not asking for a lot of money."

Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said the school board should continue examining other districts' pay-to-participate models.

"The guiding question should be, 'Will instituting a pay-to-participate policy exclude any students?'" he said. "That's the concern. That why I asked you last year. Let's look at other school districts experiencing these changes. The last thing you want to do is exclude a student."

Reilly agreed.

"This is something that's going to be handled in the way you handle class trips and everything else," she said. "Some students cannot afford it, [but the situation is resolved quietly] and kid is never deprived of playing."

A pair of Hopatcong High School coaches, Chris Buglovsky and Jim Tobin, said they were happy about the decision.

"To be honest with you, pay-to-participate is an issue with a lot of people in Hopatcong," said Tobin, the basketball head coach. "The families don't believe they can afford anymore. That's really what it comes down to. I believe they made the right decision at this point, and I hope they continue to research it further and hopefully we continue down this path."

Buglovsky, the baseball head coach, said it would help keep children on teams that have already thinned due to last year's elimination of freshmen sports.

Lundin said any pay-to-participate plan should come with a cavaet—all funds raised by sports stay within the department. Lundin also said the track is in need of $200,000 of repairs.

"I don't see money coming in, going into the budget and getting lost. It's got to be dedicated to the programs," Lundin said.

On Wednesday, the borough council cut $225,000 from the school district's $36 million budget proposal, which failed in April. The school didn't cut any teachers, despite sending out six reduction-in-force notices, or programs. Instead, most of its budget reductions came from supplemental student insurance and health insurance.

Last year, the school board cut 24.5 positions, several sports, including freshmen sports, and school programs when it lost $1.7 million in state aid and the borough reduced its budget proposal $730,000.