Archive: Sports

Last Spring varsity cheerleading was dropped from the roster, a victim of over $1 million of budget cuts necessitated by reduced state aid and local income to the Lansing Central School System.  Other items, such as the cost of electricity to power the lights at night games, were also dropped, although teams were given the option to independently raise money to pay for lights, transportation, or other items they might want.  For the cheerleaders the cuts meant the complete elimination of their team until two mothers rallied to come to the rescue.  Cathy Wagner and Jen Carlton-Cooper met with High School Principal Eric Hartz and Superintendent Stephen Grimm to propose that they become the cheerleaders' parent advisors. 

"They approved it all," she says.  "They said go for it.  They told us approximately how much we would need to pay for a coach and money for bussing if that's what we were choosing to do.  So we went forward."

They then met with the girls, who agreed they wanted them as advisors, and traded ideas for raising the money.  This year's team has a dozen girls, nine of them returning.  They cheer at football games with sideline cheers and stunting.  Wagner says the youger girls are mentored by those who have been on the team.

Starting in mid-May they worked like champs, exceeding their goal of $3,000 to pay for a coach.   They sold candy, megaphones, frisbees, and cinch bags, worked at Lansing Harbor Festival welcoming people at the gate and keeping the attendance count for a consideration offered by the Lansing Community Council, and had a booth at the Lansing Farmer's Market.

"The girls have worked hard," Wagner Says.  "Jen and I worked hard, but we enjoy doing it.  They pulled around, and they did it."

The effort has been a roller coaster ride for Wagner, Carlton-Cooper, and the team.  Only four board members were able to attend a school board meeting three weeks ago.  That meant that all action items would need all four votes to pass, because four out of seven board members are needed for a quorum.  School Board member Christine Iacobucci had questions about the legality of school districts accepting private money from a booster club for the purpose of paying a salary that she says were not answered to her satisfaction, so she abstained from the vote.  School Board President Anne Drake vowed that it would come up for a vote again at the next meeting.

"I didn't say no, I just abstained, because I didn't feel I could vote in good conscience when I didn't know whether we could do that or not," Iacobucci said Monday.  "Dr. Grimm indicated that we do have an acceptance of gifts policy which states that it's the board's preference a group that is donating money should not earmark it for something in particular.  But it does say preference."

Wagner heard about the vote from an acquaintance four days after the vote.  What seemed like a simple deal -- raise the money, hand it over to the school district, hire a coach -- was suddenly in jeopardy.

"I reread the email hours after I sent it to Dr. Grimm, and I sounded like a lunatic more than anything else," she recalls.  "I thought a straight jacket was coming at me.  I was frustrated because I thought, 'What do you mean you're not going to accept it?'  I was probably more frustrated that we weren't told the next day or the day after that 'We may have run into a bit of a problem in the meeting, but we think it will be ironed out at the next meeting.'  Nobody official told us that."

Meanwhile Iacobucci looked for the policy on accepting gifts, and found that while it was referenced in the index of the district policy book, but somehow not there.  After some digging she found a copy of the State policy, which she says protects both the district and the booster club.  She suggested that in future instances that the Superintendent share the policy with the board beforehand, protecting both parties, and clarifying legal issues before board members must vote.

The club may donate the money for a coaching position, but it is up to the district to hire a particular coach.  The salary is about $2,500, but benefits bring the sum up to $3,000.


"We wanted to make sure that it wasn't that they write the check for a (specific) coach," Grimm said.  "We're employing the coach.  It's an approved coach who is certified.  It was part of the agreement where they asked, 'What if we raise the money, can we have the coach then?'  I said yes.  They raised the money."

This time the motion to accept the money carried 6/0 (one of the seven board members was absent Monday).  Wagner says the girls will be allowed to ride on the bus with the football players, eliminating that expense.  That leaves $500 as seed money for fundraising to pay for a basketball cheerleading coach in the winter season if the girls choose to participate then, or for football cheering next year.

"Now we're pleased, and the girls can continue," Wagner says.

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