Booster Wants Parents to Get in Step

[MountainLaurel]

Mods: Please note that I posted the whole article because there's no way I can create a link to the text. I wouldn't worry though; having worked for this publication, I can safely say there's little chance anyone there would give a crap about copyright.


Booster wants parents to get in step
Band club files complaint in magistrate court

BY BILL BYRD
TIMES-WEST VIRGINIAN

FAIRMONT — It’s an unpleasant but necessary task, said Tina Kaiser.
The co- president of the Polar Bear Band Booster club filed civil complaints in Marion County Magistrate Court Thursday against four parents of children in the 120- member Fairmont Senior High School Band.

The parents are delinquent in paying for items like band uniform shirts, shoes, musical instrument repairs and other expenses, Kaiser said.

The parents named in the complaints owe less than a total of $ 1,000 all together, but it’s money the booster club cannot spare, Kaiser said.

“ We’re probably the leastexpensive extra- curricular activity at the high school because we’re able to buy items in bulk,” and suppliers want to be paid, she said.

A magistrate will hear the complaints in hearings yet to be scheduled and then rule on the debts. Parents and guardians in the boosters club sign a contract at the beginning of each year to pay for the necessary expenses.

“ We always wait until the end of the school year to file a civil complaint because we work with all of the parents — regardless of their financial ability to pay,” she said.

Through countless fundraisers, the boosters raise money year- round to send the band to competitions. The club pays to have the uniforms dry- cleaned several times a year, for example.

It also saves parents and guardians money on the purchase of uniform shoes and shirts. The band is judged at competitions on how identical each child’s uniform looks, Kaiser said.

Then there are entry fees for band competitions, travel and lodging costs, repairs for musical instruments and so on, she noted.

“ We offer payment plans to the parents that carry no interest. No child who wants to be in the band is turned away, and it’s always just a small minority of parents who don’t pay,” she said.

Parents whose children play team sports are faced with similar fees for equipment and other expenses, she said.

But parents of students in the band have to help pay fees and expenses throughout the entire school year, Kaiser said.

Meanwhile, financial support from the county school board is only enough to pay for sheet music, she said.

FSHS Band Director Shawn Dunn declined to comment Thursday evening. Principal Chad Norman could not be reached for comment.
E- mail Bill Byrd at [e-mail] .