Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:16:38 -0400
From: Newt and Karen Heilman
Subject: facility usage
I attended the BOE meeting last night and stated my case concerning gym usage for sports teams. The BOE was very receptive to my concerns and added a clause to the facility rental agreement. Essentially, any usage that supports the students of Chatham County Schools (such as travel basketball, rec sports, Chatham Soccer League, etc.) will be accomodated as a “special request.” When completing the rental agreement, users must note this on the form. Fees can be discounted or even waived by the superintendent if it is deemed necessary. Thanks to Kathie Russell for speaking up on my behalf and to the rest of the Board as well as Mr. Logan for addressing this issue.
Karen Heilman
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:12:24 -0400
From: Kathie Russell
Subject: Re: proposal to raise fees for gym use
Thank you for your email. We will give careful consideration, however, in the past our fees have not been sufficient to cover our costs for such uses. At this time, we have to make sure that usage fees cover costs. We are not seeking to profit.
Kathie L. Russell
Chatham County Board of Education
_____
From: Newt and Karen Heilman
To: , ‘David F Moody’ [
mailto: mailto:],
, ‘Flint OBrien’ [ mailto:
mailto:], ‘David Hamm’ [ mailto:
mailto:], ,
,
Cc: ‘Chatham Chatlist’
Sent: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:05:18 -0400
Subject: proposal to raise fees for gym use
Dear Mr. Logan, Mr. Moody, and School Board members:
I am a parent of two daughters at Perry Harrison School. I have been the PTSA President there for three years as well as the girls’ softball, basketball, and soccer coach for the last 6 years. I was a teacher and coach in Chatham County Schools from 1993-2000. Last year, I started a travel basketball team for girls ages 9-10 in the Pittsboro and North Chatham area. There are not a lot of local opportunities for young girls to play competitive basketball all year round and I wanted to start an affordable program in our area. With the fee increase you propose for using the gym at Perry Harrison School, my program will be forced to end. It is outrageous the amount of money the county expects community organizations to pay for the use of their facilities.
My players’ families paid for uniforms, tournaments, travel and lodging, and of course, gym use fees. This past year CC Schools charged us $8.00 an hour. Luckily, two teachers’ daughters were on the team and supervised our practices for free. We hold two 2-hour practices a week. Practice runs August through October and again in the spring from March through June. This past year we would have paid $896 for 112 hours of gym use. This year that fee will jump to $2800. I can’t ask the families of my players to pay this in addition to the other costs incurred by travel basketball.
I started this program with a number of goals — we not only focus on the fundamentals of basketball but on teamwork, self-esteem, and work ethic. I hoped to prepare these girls for middle school and high school basketball. Some have aspirations to play in college. This team was a great opportunity not only to improve on their basketball skills but to help prepare them for life. It is unfortunate that I will have to tell these girls that we can no longer have a team because the school system has made it unaffordable.
Please reconsider such a large increase in fees for facilities usage. I understand that times are tough, but you are doing a great disservice to the Chatham County community.
Thank you.
Karen Heilman