I’d like to take the opportunity to clarify the relationship between the Gateway Athletic Booster Club, the Gateway Youth Athletic Association (GYAA), and the district concerning the use of school facilities, as well as to point out the change in district structure for next year. These items, along with athletic fees for students in the district, user fees for district facilities, the reduction of staff, the closing of elementary schools, fewer busses for students, and a wide range of other changes over the past several years are due to a combination of two factors. One factor is the reduction in state and federal financial aid to education. The second factor is the pressure by our local communities to hold, or even reduce, assessments well below a consistent 2.5% increase as allowed by Proposition 2 ½.
I am no longer surprised when individuals fail to gather all of the facts, don’t consider the alternatives, or put their personal agendas ahead of the overall best interests of students before sharing their concerns with the general public. Organization’s who use Gateway facilities and grounds pay fees that have been in place for nearly a decade and were developed and approved by the school committee to help offset the cuts in student services due to decreasing district revenue. In the case of the various jamborees, tournaments, and playoffs organized and run by GYAA and Booster Club, I’ve been told by reliable sources that both the GYAA and the Booster Club still make a significant profit.
While it’s true that the Gateway Athletic Booster Club is a nonprofit organization that helps student athletes, we also must remember that gate receipts and the user fees charged to these organizations go to directly support our 7-12 athletes and athletic program. And while the Booster Club does provide a very valuable and appreciated support in maintaining Booster Field, the cost to the district of maintaining Booster Field and the remainder of the athletic fields is significant and far from covered from Booster Club activities alone.
I should also point out that while volunteers made Booster Field possible, they do not own the field or the improvements. Over many years, the district has spent a considerable amount of money in maintaining and improving these additions including replacing some of the appliances in the Booster Shack; running new electrical, water and sewage lines; and maintaining the field. You should also know that the district pays for the utility costs for the fields, the lighting, and Booster Shack; covers the liability for using these facilities; and pays for the repairs to those facilities.
You may also want to consider that the ‘gate’ fees collected from regular season athletic events offset the cost of running athletics in the district and are technically required to be collected using employees rather than volunteers. Since we implemented this requirement, gate receipts have been significantly higher than they were when we had volunteers working these events (please note, during jamborees and GYAA playoffs, where school athletics is not involved, the GYAA and Booster Club collect their own gate fees). As part of maintaining a positive, working relationship with the Boosters, Gateway does not bid out the operation of the Booster Shack to outside vendors, nor do we ask for a percentage of profits for allowing the Booster Club to operate these facilities. These are options that we’ve discussed with Booster Club leadership and jointly decided is not in the best interest of all at this time. I believe we’ve worked with both the Booster Club and the GYAA to ensure a balance of revenue sharing and to put the best interest of students at the forefront of our decision-making.
Despite discussion at the public hearing on the budget, it’s evident that some parents are not aware of the fact that the 5th and 6th grades will be on the elementary school schedule next year and under the leadership of the elementary principal and assistant principal. We will certainly address this in further detail in the near future. I do hope that given the difficulty of meeting the needs of all of our students, the difficulty in passing a budget despite having cut budgets by over $1.4 million and assessments by over $355,000 since 2009, and the changes we’ve made to make this possible, that parents will become actively involved in the effort to locally fund education at a level that would allow the school committee to eliminate athletic and parking fees for students, to increase course offerings and student opportunities, and to halt the gradual dismembering of the district’s educational infrastructure.
