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Windsor Locks Board of Education approves revisions to Pay to Participate athletics fee policy
Summary
The Windsor Locks Board of Education on Aug. 27 approved revisions to its Pay to Participate policy to add an electronic hardship waiver, set family caps and two fee tiers tied to state free/reduced lunch criteria, and change the waiver frequency to once per season; the motion passed unanimously.
The Windsor Locks Board of Education on Aug. 27 approved revisions to the district’s Pay to Participate athletics fee policy, adopting electronic hardship waivers, new fee tiers and family caps and clarifying how payments will be processed.
Superintendent Shawn Parkhurst outlined the changes before the board, saying administrators had worked collaboratively on the revisions. Parkhurst gave a public commendation to Assistant Finance Director Bjorn Burke for his recent work with the Board of Finance, saying Burke’s “calm and confidence is evident throughout all he has done thus far.”
The policy changes described in the meeting packet and discussed aloud would: require hardship waivers to be submitted electronically with proof of financial hardship to the superintendent; establish two hardship-criteria charts that mirror the 2025–26 state free/reduced lunch criteria (one that results in a $0 fee and one that reduces the fee to $50 per sport per athlete); and set family caps so that families paying full price ($100 per athlete per sport) would be limited to $600 per year, and families paying the reduced $50 per athlete per sport rate would be capped at $300 per year. Parkhurst said the board agreed to revise the policy language to make the waiver valid one per season rather than once per sport.
Members also discussed how the district will accept payments. The board noted that invoicing through the MySchoolBucks platform will be provided at the school level.
During the meeting agenda the item appears as “Policy 5183.” When board member Lindsay Cutler moved to approve the revisions, the motion referenced “Policy 5138.” The minutes record the board’s action as approval of the Pay to Participate policy revisions; the agenda and motion use inconsistent policy numbers. The minutes do not record individual roll-call votes. The board voted to approve the revisions by voice and the motion was recorded as passing unanimously.
The motion to approve the policy revisions was made by Board member Lindsay Cutler and seconded by Board member Alba Osorio; the minutes note the motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:24 p.m. on a motion by Greg Guyette, seconded by Lindsay Cutler, which the minutes also record as passing unanimously.
No members of the public spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. The minutes are marked “not official until approved at a subsequent meeting.”
