Residents urge Norwin board to reject proposed Policy 707 gym-rental fee increases
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Several youth-sports leaders and longtime residents told the Norwin School District board that proposed Policy 707 fee increases would price out community youth programs; speakers asked the board to remove mandatory annual increases or adopt a review tied to actual costs.
Several leaders of Norwin-area youth sports urged the Norwin School District Board of Education to oppose proposed changes to Policy 707 that would raise gym- and facility-rental fees over time.
"I urge you to vote against the proposed changes to policy 707 and fee increases scheduled for the 2728 school year," said Ryan Baird, vice president of the Norwin Boys Basketball Association, during the board's public-comment period. Baird said the policy would raise a current $7-per-hour rental to $21 in five years and to $28 in 12 years, and estimated that youth-basketball rental costs could climb from about $12,000 today to roughly $35,000 in five years.
Matt Balinski, president of the Norwin Girls Youth Basketball Association, thanked staff for advance notice but warned the long-term schedule "risks pricing kids out of youth sports," noting youth leagues provide a pipeline to successful high-school teams. "We want to make sure that we leave no kid with the inability to be able to play because of costs," Balinski said.
Not all commenters opposed changes in principle. Stash Gorski, president of Northern Youth Football and Cheer, told the board he and his organization met with district administrators and found the revised fee schedules more realistic for football, citing stadium reservation rules and safety considerations when teams exclusively use fields. "We can sit here all day, and I hear constantly, I pay my taxes. It should be free. I get that. But there's also cost and they're real cost," Gorski said.
Longtime resident and coach Rich Sonoske echoed the theme that community-run youth programs serve as feeder systems for the high school and urged the board to avoid creating financial barriers for participation.
Board members did not make an immediate change to Policy 707 during the meeting. The public-comments session closed after several speakers; later agenda motions and votes covered routine minutes, policy second readings, and other items. The board indicated the policy revisions will continue through the district's policy review process and that implementation dates are set in proposed language.
The board did not in this meeting adopt changes to Policy 707; next steps for the policy were not specified on the record beyond the established policy-reading schedule.