Schools

D159 Approves Fees for Pay-to-Play Activities

During a nearly four-hour meeting on Wednesday, April 18, the District 159 Board of Education approved the fee structure for the 2012-13 school year for Schedule B sports and activities.

It was a warm night outside, but even warmer in the band room as the meeting saw several heated exchanges between board members April 18.

Board members traded verbal blows while discussing future meeting arrangements, transportation fees and extracurricular fees as well.

The board voted to reinstate Schedule B activities—such as basketball, volleyball and other athletics—along with student council and National Honor Society, on a pay-to-play basis . Although the pay-to-play initiative came

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For the coming 2012–13 school year, the district will once again go pay-to-play for activities and sports, with basketball topping the cost scale at $310 per player, followed by volleyball at $295. Student council and the National Honor Society will not come at a cost to students. The high costs of some sports led board member Mike Ford to question if there could be something done to lower fees.

“I would like to see none of those, I mean $310 for basketball seems excessive,” Ford said. “I would like to see if there's anything we can get going for next year to lower some of those higher fees.”

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Mokena Junior High Principal Mike Rolinitis said that the fees being discussed we compiled using a formula that included the cost per player, per sport. He added that the fees cover transportation, officials, and various other costs associated with hosting or traveling to a sporting event for school teams.

The pay-to-play fees were approved by the board in a unanimous 7-0 vote. More information about Schedule B fees will be available from the district in the coming weeks.  


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