Parents Raise over $40,000 so Kids Can Play

By Patric Hedlund

Last summer, parents and students turned out in droves, hundreds of them, to fight to keep their interscholastic competitive sports programs at Frazier Mountain High School.

State budget cuts led the school district trustees to slice the sports program from the budget, as a way to save about $80,000 for educational programs.

Parents showed up at meeting after meeting to argue passionately to keep sports alive.

Now, with one semester over, a competitive football season is past. The Falcon volleyball team won the championship for their High Desert League. Basketball and soccer have begun. A full schedule of league play is ahead. How has this been possible?

Parents have stepped up to save the district $50,000 in transport costs to sporting events on district buses by driving the student athletes themselves.

Last week The Mountain Enterprise asked parents to do a preliminary assessment to estimate what they have contributed in out-of-pocket expenses to be able to carpool athletes to their games and tournaments so far this year. We also asked for an interim estimate from the FMHS Booster Club about how much parents have helped raise.

About $11,000 is reported by the Boosters, said Treasurer Lori Hallmark. President Lisa Johnson was eager to remind the public that their largest fundraiser, Casino Night at Cuddy Hall, is still ahead in March.

 Meanwhile, other parents have worked together to set up the carpools to get athletes and their equipment to the games.

In the first semester, parents report they have driven over 6,600 miles, with over 110 hours on the road. It appears the outof- pocket costs they have covered, using IRS multipliers for use of private vehicles, comes up to an estimated $29,094.85.

“This doesn’t include parents’ time picking kids up from practices and sitting at the games,” one of the parents explained. She also reminded us that it often took up to six or seven cars to transport all the team members to their games.

Together, the booster benefits and parent carpools add up to an estimated $40,094 in parent contributions with a little less than half of the school year still ahead.

This is part of the January 13, 2012 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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