Pay to Play Contributions are Voluntary, for Now, at SHHS

The recession has affected all walks of life, and sports is no different. 

That is evident right here locally as the student-athletes participating in sports at Sleepy Hollow High School will be asked to make a voluntary donation/fee for the first time this year, according to its athletic director Chuck Scarpulla.  

"We had to cut back because of budgetary restraints a little bit," Scarpulla said.  "The board would like to see if we could get a voluntary donation if they want to help support the athletic program."

The so-called "pay to play" scheme for sports, most extra-curicular activites, and field trip transportation costs, was part of this year's proposed budget which passed voter's muster in May.

The district noted that the flat rate would be voluntary, but hoped that any budgetary shortfall would be made up through fundraising and booster events if students could not pay the participation fees. The plan is part of a 10 percent reduction in district expenses on sports, the district needs to raise at least $83,000 in fees or donations for extracurricular activities this fiscal year to makeup for the spending reduction.

Scarpulla stressed that these are voluntary donations and not mandatory ones. One can still play sports at Sleepy Hollow without donating any money.

"They don't have to do it," Scarpulla said. "It doesn't affect anything about their playing time. In fact, the coaches or myself won't even know who gave what. All the kids are going to get letters. Any donations they are going to bring in can go to my office, the main office, the business office. Whatever comes in, comes in."

As for what the  student-athletes will be asked to pay for the volunteer fee, Scarpulla said a suggested fee for varsity sports is $60 and $40 for JV and below.

"Or a person could give less," Scarpulla said.

When asked if any specific fund-raisers would be held, Scarpulla said that was up to the individual teams and their booster organizations.

With Sleepy Hollow asking its student-athletes to make a voluntary donation, the obvious question is will there be a time that it will be mandatory for student-athletes at Sleepy Hollow or other Section 1 schools for that matter, to pay a participation fee in order to play sports? 

"I don't think you will see that, at least right now, in public schools," Scarpulla said."In some parochial schools you have to pay to participate. Down the road, who knows. We're going through a crisis right now, probably one more tough year, then things will get better a little bit hopefully."

As to why it's so important to keep athletic programs running, Scarpulla said it's because the benefits of playing sports go far beyond the win-loss record.

"In every community, athletics is a critical part of school," Scarpulla said. "It develops pride and spirit in the school and it's such an important thing in the learning process because a student-athlete learns the value of teamwork. You can learn so much from it from a humanistic point of view. You learn how to work as a team, dedicate yourself to something and learn how to socialize with others."