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Parents decry new athletic participation fee; district says hardship help available
Summary
Parents told the Rockingham County Board of Education that a proposed $40 participation fee for school athletics would be a hardship; district leaders said fees are set and held at the school level, hardship accommodations are available, and staff will provide more detail.
Parents pressed the Rockingham County Board of Education on Aug. 6 over a sliding-in cost for school athletics that one parent said could be $40 per student.
"Why are our kids subjected to have to pay $40 to play sports when it's been free for all of these many years?" said Sean Bridal during the public-comment period, saying the charge adds up for families with more than one child.
Julie Kawal, another parent, said her son lost access to sports because attendance counted against him and that the new fee would remove an important outlet. "We just don't feel that as fair to the kids," she said.
District leaders responded during the transportation and athletics discussion. Dr. Perkins told the board that athletic fees are collected and retained by individual schools and that central office staff do not keep those funds. "All of those are collected by the schools. The schools have control over all of those athletic fees, and they're going to make the decisions on what to spend them on," Perkins said.
Perkins and other staff said hardship accommodations will be available. "We do offer a hardship. We're not calling it a waiver, because waiver means you don't have to pay. Someone is going to have to pay for that. So it can be the school, it can be the booster that they choose," Perkins said, adding that schools are encouraged to be flexible with parents and that teams can run fundraisers or set up payment plans to cover costs.
Board members thanked the speakers and said staff (including the athletic director) would provide more detailed information about how the fees are collected and spent. The board did not adopt a new countywide policy at the meeting; the conversation was framed as clarification of existing practice and assurances that individual students facing hardship would be accommodated.
The meeting record shows the board asked staff to bring additional information; no vote on athletic participation policy was taken. The transportation item later in the meeting authorized a $25 increase to the activity bus mileage fee (see separate article).
