Board approves girls soccer merger and $20-per-player overnight preseason trip

The Millbrook Central School District Board of Education approved a girls soccer team merger and an overnight preseason field trip so student participants would not have to remain late into the evening for routine annual business. The board amended the agenda to take up consent items 8 and 9 earlier in the meeting and voted to approve the merger and the trip.

"It would be an overnight field trip to Sharp Reservation, which is only about 45 minutes away," the varsity coach said, describing team-building activities, overnight accommodations, meals and organized activities. "We've done quite a bit of fundraising, so the cost per player would be about $20." The coach said the trip would allow players from merged schools to bond during a shortened preseason and to incorporate team-building into practice time that has fewer double sessions.

Board members asked whether the timing or participant selection would conflict with district policy. A district representative clarified that any such trip must occur after the season begins and that selections made before the team is chosen would create policy issues: "The only thing would be that it has to be after the season starts," the administrator said.

Members also discussed insurance and the procedural side of the merger. The board voted to move the merger and trip for consideration and then approved both items by voice vote. The coach and students were granted permission to participate in the trip as described.

The motion approved fundraising-supported charges for participants, and the board recorded the decision in the meeting; no formal roll-call tally with named votes for each board member was read into the minutes beyond verbal aye responses. The district will implement any follow-up paperwork or permission slips required for the overnight activity.