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Saucon Valley residents urge board to halt facility fee schedule after warnings it would cripple youth sports
Summary
Community groups and parents told the Saucon Valley School Board that a proposed facilities fee schedule — which would reclassify outside users and add charges for Sunday use — would force youth programs to raise fees or end, while speakers urged collaborative revision and clearer, limited personnel‑cost language.
Community leaders told the Saucon Valley School Board on Monday that a proposed overhaul of the district’s facilities fee schedule could force youth programs to raise registration costs or fold.
Kelly Landino, president of Saucon Valley Youth Basketball, said she appreciated that the board tabled the fee schedule for revision, but said community groups were not given adequate notice or input before the proposal moved forward. “If the community organization creates additional personnel cost for the district, we're willing to share in that cost. But we believe those charges should be clearly defined, communicated in advance, and limited to a reasonable portion of that additional expense rather than being open ended,” Landino said.
Parents and volunteers described the scale of affected activity and potential costs. Alicia Kickline, representing youth football and cheerleading, said the proposed charges would make spring flag season unaffordable: “If the proposed fees currently were to go through, we would use 548 total hours for our spring flag season, and that would cost us $13,000. And that is just not obtainable.” Jimmy O’Brien, a longtime volunteer, said roughly 300 children participate in youth basketball and warned that any disruption to gym access or major fee increases would force the program to cut teams or raise registration.
Speakers credited recent direct conversations with administrators as productive but asked the board to include community groups in final language. “We have had really productive conversations with school board over email... Every interaction has been collaborative and open minded,” O’Brien said, while urging the board to continue that engagement.
Board members and district staff acknowledged the problem that prompted the revision — district staff said high‑school spaces had seen double or triple bookings — but several directors resisted hard deadlines within board policy for administrative reply times. One staff speaker said an expectation could be set that administrators respond to community communications within 72 hours in most cases.
The board did not adopt the fee schedule package on Monday and tabled the item for further revision and community collaboration. Several speakers said they would continue working with administrators to craft narrower, clearer personnel‑cost language and limits on charges for unpaid volunteer labor.
Provenance: topicintro SEG 1058, topfinish SEG 1452
