Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
Celina fans to be charged to attend non-varsity games
By William Kincaid
For the first time ever, Celina City School officials will charge fans to attend junior high, freshman and junior varsity football games this year, school board members learned this week.
Western Buckeye League (WBL) directors at a recent meeting passed a proposal to charge adults $2 and students $1 for each of the games in question.
The universal price requirement is intended to bring consistency throughout the league, Celina Athletic Director Bruce Boley wrote in a letter to board members.
"With other schools, its been pretty inconsistent across the league," Superintendent Matt Miller said about some WBL schools charging and others not. "Now it's standard with all schools."
Boley said the 10 athletic directors at the meeting unanimously approved the proposal.
"It's just to help offset the general athletic budget," Boley said, mentioning transportation and referee costs.
It cost Celina schools $8,000 each year just to recondition the junior high football equipment, Boley said.
"There's no way we'll recoup that much," he said.
Boley said the school has always charged for attendance to junior high volleyball and basketball games.
St. Marys City Schools Athletic Director Joe Bline said he doesn't know if his school district charged for the football games last year, as it's his first year with St. Marys.
"We're just trying to offset costs of the officials," he said.
Celina board member Matt Gilmore didn't like the idea of charging fans and asked if the school could choose not to charge.
"I don't think there's any fallout to it," Miller said about admittance fees. "It was a decision they (athletic directors) all made together."
"It just seems (we're) trying to make a buck off of it," Gilmore said.
Board member Cindy Piper said fans may grumble if they have to pay at some, but not all schools.
The price change will go into effect this season.
The Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC) will charge for junior high football, volleyball and basketball games for the third consecutive year, Coldwater Exempted Village Schools Athletic Director Eric Goodwin said.
All MAC schools charge $3 for adults and $2 for children, according to Goodwin.
Goodwin said the ticket revenue has brought in an additional $8,000 to $10,000 each year at Coldwater. Each junior high team costs around $5,000 each year, Goodwin said.
In other news this week, Celina board members approved the following:
• Sixty-day probationary contracts for cafeteria worker Vicki Goff, teacher assistant Sharon Knous and head start bust driver Ricky Muter.
• The immediate resignation of Kelly Maurer.
• The hiring of Bryant Miller as dean of students at the high school.
• A donation from WESCO for the purchase of a SMART Board and projector for $4,199.
