Schools Collect About $10,000 in Owed Activity Fees
A ConnectEd e-mail and phone call went out last Friday evening.
School officials have collected about $10,000 in Westborough High School and Gibbons Middle School activity fees in recent days, Director of Finance and Administration Irene Oliver told the school committee Monday night.
Last Wednesday night, WHS Athletic Director Johanna DiCarlo told the board that unpaid activity fees would affect the Nov. 26 winter sports tryouts. Students with outstanding balances are not allowed to participate in future fee-based school activities until that sum is paid.
The current fee is $200 per activity, with a $500 family cap.
DiCarlo’s comments were part of a bigger discussion about students with outstanding fee balances participating in school activities, and collecting those fees. DiCarlo and Coordinator of Fine Arts David Jost participated.
Monday night, Oliver said a number of parents have responded to a ConnectED e-mail and phone call the building coordinator sent last Friday evening. Those measures will become more frequent, Oliver said.
Some parents have indicated they either sent check or will have it soon, Oliver said.
"A good portion" of the outstanding balances as of last Wednesday night now have paid, she said.
Still, "there's also a good amount" still owed, she said.
TBH
12:19 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
There are a lot of issues at play here that are contributing to the problem. The fact that you can sign up for an activity, participate in it and not actually receive an invoice until the program is nearly over is a problem. The online payment system is far from user friendly. Once you manage to set up an account, there's no way to see what payment is actually due since it's not linked to the invoice. In addition to this, the invoices do not reflect any balances that have been paid, adding some confusion. The ideal situation would be for it to be set up like nearly all other sports programs, the rec dept,, etc. where you must make a payment at the same time you complete the online registration. I'm guessing the issue is that with the $500 family cap, they have not figured out a way to implement a system that keeps track of your account. Until this happens, they will continue to chase their tails.
Unfortunately, the communication regarding what activities are free and what ones are not has not been made clear to all parents. The notice on the high school website that lists all sports and activities and their fees should have been put on the Gibbons site as well. Those are the parents that are potentially new to the concept of activity fees...there are many families that believe that ALL activities cost money, which isn't the case. There are students that erroneously thought that student council, for instance, cost $ ,and therefore didn't sign up which is highly unfortunate.
TBH
12:25 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
I don't begrudge the schools from trying to make money from this and to their credit, they are at least being up front about it by publicly said that they are not trying to be equitable in terms of cost between different programs. But common sense should dictate that you just can't start charging all kinds of fees without proper communication and a viable payment system in place.
Jenni Speed
3:28 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
I don't think anyone likes the fees, and the schools are not making out on this. But they are most likely here to stay. I'm told they are much higher in surrounding communities. Please spread the word that there is help for families with demonstrated need - I hate the idea of a child not participating in an activity because of the cost.