Athletes and coaches would face monetary penalties while the fees for junior varsity and freshman game admission tickets and parking for post district games would increase from $3 to $5 if the School Board of Lee County approves suggested changes to the athletic manual for the 2012 fiscal year.
Herbert Wiseman, director of secondary school operations, told the elected board this week that every year he has Herman Williams meet with the athletic directors to see if they would like to see any changes to the manual, so the board can turn it into a board policy every year.
Board Member Jeanne Dozier asked why would they want to raise fees for parking in these economic times.
Wiseman said that the major problem is that Lee County has very few sporting programs that make a profit.
“Basketball and football is pretty much what makes the money for all of us,” he said. “We have to make enough money to carry the sports programs and we try to spread it across so it is even for all the areas.”
Wiseman said the majority of the schools ran out of money before the end of spring sports. The athletic programs at the school then had to rely on their booster clubs to raise the additional funds needed for the sport.
“We do need a little more money to help the other programs because we only make money in a few sports,” he said.
Dozier said she could not make any decision until they gathered more information as to how much the schools receive from admissions. She also addressed the question of individuals parking in other areas besides the designated areas due to increased parking rates.
“We don’t want any of the athletic programs operating in the red,” Dozier said. “We haven’t kept up with the times if we are operating in the red.”
Another topic discussed that raised some questions from the board was placing unsportsmanlike conduct fines on students and coaches for such behavior as profanity, illegal hits in football and fighting.
The penalty would be paid to the Florida High School Athletic Sports Association.
Wiseman said fines typically are associated with contact sports.
Board attorney Keith Martin advised the board to include what the consequences would be for the student if they did not pay an assessed penalty.