(previous)
More than 75 concerned parents and school supporters attended a meeting hosted on Jan. 8 by MHS Principal Dr. John Drottar and School Superintendent Mary Gormley to hear the latest news on the financial shortfalls facing the MHS athletics program and clubs/activities program. Members of the School Committee and Fundraising Committee shared encouraging words, while shows of support and solidarity were provided by the presidents of the parent groups for the music, drama and arts clubs.
After a brief introduction by Drottar, Gormley detailed how the $550,000 athletic program budget is funded and how the original fund-raising goal of $142,000 has been successfully whittled down to the current critical need of about $50,000. Meanwhile, School Committee member Kristan BagleyJones said an additional $30,000 is needed to fund the spring clubs-and -activities budget, which is separate from the athletic program budget.
Athletic Director Steve Traister expressed his thanks to the audience, parents, Milton High Boosters, donors, volunteers, and others who have provided such extraordinary support for the fund-raising that has already been collected so far.
Plans for raising the needed funds hinge upon two major initiatives – a Jan. 31 student walk-a-thon and sales of advertising banners for the high school’s Copeland Field House – and two other events: a Comedy Night at the Hoosic Club on Feb. 7 and a Faculty Talent Show, the details of which will be announced at a later date.
Audience members were provided copies of letters and fund-raising forms that will be distributed to all high school students for the Walk-a-thon for School Sports and Clubs, which will be held at the Copeland Field House on Saturday, Jan. 31, from 4 to 6 p.m. Students will seek pledges and many volunteers will be needed to run the event. Student hockey players, who will be playing a game on that date, will be allowed to collect pledges for their ice time, rather than walking time. The event will include a DJ, concessions stand and bake sale. All questions and offers to volunteer should be directed to coordinator Laura Kessler at lkessler@ifb.org.
After some consideration, Drottar agreed that all high school students who participate in the walk-a-thon would be granted credit toward their required hours of community service.
The other major initiative discussed at the meeting is the sale of large advertising banners to be hung in the Copeland Field House from 2009 until June 2010. Three banner sizes are available ranging from the Silver Level for $1,500 to the Platinum Level for $5,000. The program was developed by Kate Sumner who does sales and marketing for Full Contact Advertising and who is also a parent of two Milton High students. A downloadable electronic brochure detailing the banner sponsorship is available on the public schools’ web site at www.edline.net/pages/Milton_Public_Schools. Inquiries should be directed to Drottar at jdrottar@miltonps.org.
The School Committee has set a cutoff date of Jan. 31 for deciding whether to eliminate all spring athletics and activities at the high school. When asked what the committee’s process would be for making the decision, Bagley-Jones and committee member Lynda-Lee Sheridan indicated that the committee would reassess the situation at its Jan. 20 meeting, based on the progress of the banner sales and walk-a-thon pledges.
Bagley-Jones offered a mea culpa while explaining how the shortfall crisis was allowed to occur: “I do apologize personally and as a School Committee member for us not being able to address this earlier.”
She cited the committee’s and school administrators’ “excruciatingly awful and painful” task of having to lay off 15 teachers and cut materials and supplies in a very short period of time as the reason for the oversight.
“I want to say, for myself, I let it slip by that we didn’t have enough money for sports clubs,” said Bagley-Jones.”I’ll never let that happen again. … I apologize for that.”
(Tom Roux can be reached at Tom_Roux@hotmail.com)