PAY-TO-PLAY Athletics overseer seeks plan

The cost is $350 for fall and winter sports for high school students.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BRISTOLVILLE -- If all the students who paid a deposit to play a fall or winter sport pay the remainder to the Bristol school district's pay-to-participate amount, athletics will make it through the first part of the year.
But the fee to play a spring sport may have to increase.
At a Bristol schools oversight commission meeting Tuesday, Peg Betts, commission chairwoman, asked Terry Balla, high school principal, and Dr. Marty Santillo, the newly appointed district superintendent, to meet and discuss a long-range plan for athletics that will be given to the commission.
Balla said that based on the number of students who have deposited the $25 required for the fall and winter sports, he's expecting $38,000 income from pay-to-participate. The fee is $350 per sport per student for high schoolers and $150 for those in junior high sports.
The $38,000 combined with $17,000 left in the athletic budget, $9,000 expected in gate receipts for fall sports, and money generated through fund raisers would cover volleyball, soccer and basketball. Bristol does not have a football program.
Drop in participation
Balla said participation in fall and winter sports for next school is between 10 percent and 15 percent less than this past year. The pay-to-participate plan took effect for spring sports during the 2003-04 school year.
"I didn't assume we'd get half as many people interested in this," Balla said. "I'm quite pleased and happy."
The district has been in fiscal emergency since October, and a state commission has taken over finances. A 6.9-mill levy is on the Aug. 3 special election.
Commission members also approved a two-year contract for Santillo, who has been at the helm of the Girard district for about two years. Santillo, who has said he expects to move into the Bristol superintendent spot July 1, will be paid $73,000 each year. Santillo also led the Bristol district from 1991 to 1999.
Superintendent Rocco Nero, who is leaving to head the Lowellville school district, earned $79,000 annually.