Speaker seeks approval to use high-school gym for donor-backed donkey-basketball scholarship fundraiser

A public commenter asked Tucker County Schools officials for permission to use the high-school gym on Thursday, April 2, to host a donkey-basketball fundraiser intended to grow a scholarship endowment for Marina Trager Maxwell.

The speaker identified herself as April (the transcript includes two self-introductions that differ) and said the promoter is a Wisconsin company with 21 years’ experience, will require waivers from donkey riders, carries sanitation and cleanup crews and will pay for any damage to the floor. “They’ve never had any issues,” she said.

She described the proposed event times (set-up in late afternoon with the event around 7 to 8:30 p.m.), ticket pricing (free at the door, $10 in advance) and supplier obligations, and asked the board to waive the standard $100 facility-request fee for this family scholarship effort. She said the fundraiser would support a scholarship endowment that requires $20,000 to establish a named scholarship and that organizers have raised about $10,000 to date.

In the meeting record there is no immediate response from district staff or a recorded vote on the fee waiver request. The transcript contains a question from the board asking about the scholarship target and the speaker’s explanation of progress toward the goal but does not show staff approval or denial.

If the board agrees to the request, staff will need to confirm facility availability, insurance coverage and any additional district requirements for outside promoters before the event.