• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

School Flier Ban Puts Strain on Youth Sports: Activity Leaders Fear Enrollment, Financial Trouble

Posted on: Saturday, 31 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By Beth Lucas, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz., The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Dec. 31--A policy prohibiting fliers from being sent home from school has some Gilbert youth sports groups bracing for a drop in spring and summer enrollment -- and hits to their finances.

Some activity directors said they are already feeling the financial bite of having to purchase advertising with money that would otherwise go toward youth activities.

"We're having to spend more money on ads in the newspaper," said Cindy Barnes of the Gilbert Youth Soccer Association.

"It's affecting us financially. It takes away more money from kids' programming that we normally would do," she said.

The soccer association won't be able to provide its free summer camps this year because of additional costs to advertise activities, Barnes said.

Thanks to her ads, though, she doesn't expect a drop in student enrollment.

The Gilbert Unified School District this summer responded to teacher complaints about the onslaught of fliers going home by instituting a trial rule that no fliers are sent home in backpacks this school year.

Instead, a Community Information section is set aside on the district's Web site, at www.gilbert.k12.az.us, where parents can download fliers.

The district also offers to post fliers on kiosks outside of school offices.

Other activity leaders said they're unsure if they will be able to host summer camps this year because they don't have the same finances as the 1,500-student soccer group -- and don't anticipate high turnout.

"We've seen at least a 50 percent decline," said Kristy Maffucci, league coordinator for Kids Zone Youth Sports, a league of multiple sports for 3- through 8-year-olds.

The league had about 500 participants in its January season last year, but only about 300 have signed up for the season beginning Jan. 7.

"It affects the team, not being able to get notice out to the kids in the Gilbert schools," Maffucci said.

"It also hurts the team a little, since they're shorthanded. We may end up having to raise fees to get advertising out." Barnes said while the ban on sending home fliers has caused some concern among youth sports groups, she understands the teachers' concern that too much academic time was spent handing out pamphlets.

In 2004, the Scottsdale Unified School District instituted a yearlong moratorium against nonschool-sponsored fliers going home, in the face of a lawsuit filed after the district refused a Bible Club operator from sending home his pamphlets.

In that case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that school districts had to treat religious materials equally, although districts were allowed to ban material that sought to advocate a religion.

A new Scottsdale district rule allowed fliers to resume for the 2004-05 school year, but the fliers cannot advocate anything, religious or otherwise.

-----

Copyright (c) 2005, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Tribune

More News in this Category