Football changes

Medford board OKs taking over 7th grade tackle football program

The Medford Area Public School District will take over running seventh grade tackle football starting next fall.

The school board on Monday night unanimously approved, with board member Don Everhard absent, the request from the Medford Area Youth Football to take over the program. Greg Klapatauskas, current board president for the youth football program urged the board to take over the program to have it better aligned with the high school football program and to improve access to the sport for students and families.

“We feel that is best for the program and for the kids involved,” Klapatauskas said. He noted that going forward youth football would be focusing on flag football through sixth grade with tackle football to begin at seventh grade under the school program.

He said they have spoken with Medford head football coach Ted Wilson who supports the changes.

School district activities director See MEDFORD on page 4 Ryan Pilgrim said it was his recommedation for the district to take over the program and add it to the offerings at Medford Area Middle School. The district currently offers 8th grade tackle football at MAMS.

“It is best for our kids,” Pilgrim said, noting that as a school program they can provide better and more convenient practice times with students able to be home by dinner.

Beyond that, Pilgrim said they will be able to hold the student athletes more accountable under the school program, noting that they will have to meet academic eligibility and other provisions of the athletic codes. The cost to the district is $11,800 due to the increase in cost for uniforms and equipment. He said the youth football program would be selling equipment to the district at a greatly reduced cost.

At the middle school level athletic programs are a participation model with all those interested encouraged to take part. The expenses for the program will come from the Fund 80 community services fund rather than from the district’s general funds.

Board member Brian Hallgren noted that the school board approved taking this on last year only to have other parent members of the board come back and ask for it back again a month later over concerns about coaching. He described the situation as being a “circus.”

“I will say the current youth football board will not come back to ask for it back,” Klapatauskas said. “We want to focus on flag football in first through sixth grade.”

“Your board is unanimous on this?” asked district administrator Pat Sullivan. Klapatauskas said that as long as he is president they will not be asking to take it back.

With the school district already offering 8th grade tackle football, board member John Zuleger said it would seem strange to him to not have the district run the seventh grade program.

Student fee review

While no changes were implemented for the coming year, school board raised the idea of a potential student parking permit fee to help offset parking lot maintenance and improvement.

The discussion came up during the annual review of student fees. The district charges fees for things such as participating in high school athletics, certain class materials fees, and instrument rental. In total, the district brings in about $35,000 in student fees. Sullivan noted that the district also works with families and there is a process in place for people to apply to have their fee waived.

“We don’t ask questions,” Sullivan said of the waiver requests. “We put it out there that if you can’t afford something to let us know,” he said noting that their goal is to never have a student who doesn’t go out for something because they can’t afford it.

While there were no questions about the routine review of regular fees, board member Kurt Werner asked about implementing a student parking fee to go toward blacktop.

“A lot of schools have it,” Sullivan said. He said he served as a principal in a school with a parking fee and said they are very hard to enforce, but that they must be enforced in order to be fair to those who are paying the fee. He said if one was imposed the district would enforce it.

Board member Brian Hallgren said that when the idea has been looked at in the past, it was determined that it would end up costing more to enforce it than would be collected.

“It comes up when budgets get really tight,” said board president Dave Fleegel. However, he noted that blacktop is a major expense when it needs to be done.

Zuleger suggested they could assume all the 16-yearolds would eventually drive to school and just add $100 to the drivers education fee. Fleegel said this would go against the idea of fairness because not everyone can or does have the ability to have their child drive to school. “There are still yellow busses with every age group on them, every day,” Fleegel said.

“It is not a terrible idea,” Fleegel said. Ultimately there was no motion made to change the current fees so they continued with the status quo with no new fees added.

Budget preview

“What we are hoping for is a recovery budget,” said Audra Brooks, the school district finance director.

Brooks has been working on the school district’s $35 million budget set to begin with the fiscal year in July. She said the budget is based on using $1.3 million in federal ESSER grant money in order to make it work out. In the last state biennial budget, the legislature instructed districts to use the one-time federal funds in place of doing an increase in state aids.

Medford local school budget will depend heavily on what legislators do with the state budget and the unprecedented $8 billion budget surplus at the state level.

Brooks noted that from 2002 to 2020, the state dropped from being 11th for per pupil spending in the nation to being 25th and is currently below the national average for funding.

Sullivan cautioned that faced with rising costs due to inflation and other factors and no increase in state funding, the district could potentially need to go to referendum in coming years to cover operational needs.

In related discussion, Brooks said the district needed to take steps now to maximize its bond rating for any future potential referendum. With the district currently without long term debt, Brooks explained that it does not have a current bond rating. The district’s rating was previously at AA-, which Brooks noted was very good. However, she said if they were able to raise it one step up, they could save $125,000 in interest on a future referendum.

She said she will be bringing forward a formal debt management policy for the district and talked about the need to be aware of fund balance and the need for a strong fund balance. The district is currently sitting at about a 20% fund balance, which she said is where they should be at.

“I want to get ahead of and to get the best interest rates at the time we decide to do it,” she said.

She said this plays into how the district plans to cover the up front materials cost for the technical education department to build a home next year. The city of Medford gave the district two building lots in a new subdivision. The plan is for the students to get hands-on construction experience in building a home which will then be sold with the proceeds of that sale going to pay for a second home to be built the following year. The goal would be for the program to continue beyond that.

Brooks said it would be appropriate for the financing of the first home to come out of fund balance with the money to go back when the home is eventually sold.