Field marching band feels levy effects

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For Field sophomore, Kaylee Davis, the $300 pay-to-participate fee is putting a damper on her high school experience.

As a member of the color guard, she is saddened that she has to pay money to do something she loves and that some students have to stop participating because of an inability to pay.

“You make so many new friends and then some people the next year don’t do it because of the pay-to-play,” Davis said.  “It’s too much and they can’t afford it.”

Unlike sports, the color guard and marching band are co-curricular activities, meaning that the students receive participation grades.  Students involved in these still have to pay the same amount as someone involved in an extra-curricular activity.

Denise Combs, color guard instructor for the band, feels the fees are ridiculous.  She does not believe students receiving a grade for their participation should have to pay as much as those who do not.

She has seen the amount of students who participate in band dwindle due to the fees because of the parents inability to pay for more than one sport.

“Unfortunately they have to give up one or the other, and that’s sad for me, as a coach, to see some of my kids that I’ve seen over the past couple of years go away,” Combs said.

Hailey Golden, a freshman who, along with color guard, also plays softball, said her family has to save up during the summer so she is able to participate in these two activities.  She also said she tries to chip in when she can.

She sometimes feels she may ultimately have to decide whether she wants to play softball or participate in the marching band.

“If my family just doesn’t have the money, then we just don’t have the money and I’ll have to say OK, I’ll pick one or the other,” Golden said.

Allyson Westover, a member of the Field Local School District Board of Education brought the issue up at the board meeting on September 9.

“You’re asking the parents to pay for something that their child’s getting graded on and I don’t think we should be doing that,” she said.

David Heflinger, the school’s superintendent, said he would look into what area districts do, regarding co-curriculars.  The board is also looking into a cap for pay-to-participate fees to help ease the burden for families who have children who participate in multiple activities.

“Very few people look back at high school and say ‘wasn’t algebra class great?’ They look back at high school remember the clubs they were in and the teams they were on and the times they spent with people,” he said.