Leaders of different youth athletic programs are on opposite sides following a recent change to the Fox C-6 School District’s facility usage policy, which will require the groups to pay fees to use the facilities.
In the past, the district policy called for groups to pay facility-use fees, but often they were not collected.
Board of Education members voted 4-3 on Aug. 27 to adjust the rules and rates for groups to use district facilities, such as athletic fields, gymnasiums and Rickman Auditorium, and to enforce the fees. The new rules will start on Nov. 1.
Board President April Moeckel, Kenny Woolsey, Travis Lintner and Judy Smith voted to make the changes, and Todd Scott, Curtiss Frazier and Michael Myers voted against them.
The youth group leaders said it could be difficult for the groups to find the funds to cover the fees, but they are trying to find solutions.
Britt Jenkins, the head coach for the JagWarriors wrestling program and Junior Jaguars football program, said leaders of those programs met with Fox officials on Sept. 4 to discuss ways to offset the fees.
He said the meeting, which Superintendent Paul Fregeau and some district officials and board members attended, was productive and helped resolve a lot of issues.
“It was nice to see how much they care about youth sports,” Jenkins said. “They want to do the right thing, and I think everything is going to work out just great. It is nice to have the support of the school.”
Carla Faulkner, a director for the Junior Warriors football and wrestling programs, said her group met with officials on Sept. 5, and she didn’t feel the district wanted to help support the programs made up of Fox elementary and middle school students.
“Our meeting was very much them saying, ‘The fees are what the fees are,’” she said. “They weren’t changing their stance from the (Aug. 27) meeting.”
Faulkner said the only concession Fox officials made during the meeting was to say the programs will not be charged for custodial services during the week when a custodian is already on duty.
“That does help some to take those fees off the table,” she said. “At this point, we understand they are not willing to bend on (anything else) at all. We will figure out a way to come up with the fees because we believe in our programs and the students. We will go out and get corporate sponsors, do fundraisers and pay out of our own pockets to show we actually care.”
Jenkins said he believes Fox officials will work with his programs to find ways to cover the cost of rental fees.
“We are taking the ideas they have given us and working with them to try not to pass on any bucks to the kids,” he said. “Like, if there is a basketball game going on, we can help work the concession stands to help raise money that way.”
Fregeau said the district will continue to work with the groups to develop a positive resolution.
Changes
District officials said the facility usage fees are necessary to cover utility costs, custodial services and general maintenance for the facilities. According to board documents, 23 organizations use facilities at Fox and Seckman high schools for a total of about 2,117 hours each year.
Tammy Cardona, assistant superintendent of secondary education, said those organizations are paying a combined $37,840 in fees, and that number would increase to approximately $81,500 as a result of the changes to the policy.
Board members discussed the policy changes for about 45 minutes, saying that some groups that use the facilities have not been charged the current fees, which are higher than the newly adopted fees. At times, the discussion was interrupted by jeers from the crowd.
“Our current policy has higher rates than the one that was passed” Moeckel said. “It just hasn’t been enforced across the district. I hate raising rates on families that cannot afford it. We will be working with these groups to help find ways to help pay for these kids. These groups are a great asset to our community, schools and families. It’s a tough decision any way you look at it.”
The new policy reduces the number of different rates to use district facilities from four to three.
Under the new policy, Group A includes school groups, parent teacher organizations, Scouts and other similar organizations, and those organizations are not charged to use district facilities.
Group B is made up of feeder sports programs, like the Junior Warriors, that have a membership of at least 75 percent district students and that provide proof of being a nonprofit group and input from high school coaches about how the participants are instructed. Group B will be charged $5 per hour on weekdays and $10 per hour on weekends to use gyms and similar facilities; multipurpose and wrestling rooms; and grass or dirt fields. It will cost $35 per hour on weekdays and $50 per hour on weekends to use turf football, baseball and softball fields.
Group C is composed of organizations that are not affiliated with the Fox district, such as for-profit groups or non-district-sponsored activities, and will be charged $15 per hour on weekdays and $20 per hour on weekends to use grass or dirt fields and $25 per hour on weekdays and $30 per hour on weekends to use gyms and similar facilities; and multipurpose and wrestling rooms. Group C will be charged $75 per hour on weekdays and $100 per hour on weekends to use turf football, baseball and softball fields.
Jenkins said the JagWarriors, which started in 1992, has about 160 wrestlers who pay a $125 registration fee and typically another $25 to enter tournaments. He said the registration fee is $310 for the Junior Jaguars, which started in 2016.
He also said the programs help families cover costs, but that cost varies from family to family.
Faulkner said the Junior Warriors football program, which is in its third year of existence, has 137 players and 92 cheerleaders, and the wrestling program, which is entering its second year, has 59 wrestlers.
She said registration fees cost football players $300, cheerleaders $150 and wrestlers $125, adding that between 25 and 30 football players and cheerleaders receive full scholarships to cover membership fees and an additional 40 receive partial scholarships.
For wrestling, she said 20 wrestlers were on full scholarships and 15 had partial scholarships.
Faulkner said the programs would need to raise their membership fees by between $20 and $25 for football and between $40 and $100 for wrestling to cover facility usage costs, and the programs likely will not be able to offer scholarships to families in need.
“We are hurting our community by taking away that option for families who are already struggling in our area,” she said.
Scott said he had planned to vote in favor of the new usage fees but changed his mind after hearing four people affiliated with the feeder programs explain how the fees may hurt them and how those programs have benefited the district, including by donating items to the district, like new wrestling mats.
“Our feeder programs shouldn’t be fundraising for us to buy mats and facility items that the district should be taking care of,” he said. “If we figure out that part of it, that will help those programs and our programs.”
Myers said Fox should consider not charging the feeder programs, and instead adjust the rates for the outside group – Group C – to cover additional costs for the facilities to be used by non-district organizations.
“I don’t want to jeopardize groups that are going to help our high school athletic program,” he said. “I think there are other ways to go about this. I think there is going to be further discussion.”
Woolsey said he hopes the district can work with the feeder programs to find a way to help them cover facility rental costs.
“I would like those organizations and us to come together and work together,” he said. “We don’t want to get rid of the programs.”
Faulkner said it feels like the fees are punitive because Smith and Lintner both mentioned the Fox district’s inability to pass a tax levy increase since 2004. For example, voters rejected a proposed tax levy increase of 92.07 cents per $100 in 2023.
Lintner said he should not have mentioned the tax levy because it is a separate issue, and Smith said the failure of the levy increase measure is not related to the facility-use policy changes.
“We have to find ways in our budget to pay for anything that is damaged or needs to be repaired, and that could be because of simple use,” Smith said. “Our fees are lower than anyone else. We looked at Jefferson County and St. Louis County, and we made sure our fees are lower.”