New Haven Superintendent Says District Won't Adopt Pay-to-Play

In light of L'Anse Creuse Public School's New Haven Community Schools is assuring parents it will not follow suit.

On Thursday, the district released this statement in response to the L’Anse Creuse pay-to-play announcement, "New Haven Community Schools is an exception to the rule when it comes to charging parents for their athletes to play sports."

“We know there’s no such thing as parents not paying for sports," said New Haven Superintendent Keith Wunderlich, in the statement. "Every sport has equipment parents buy as well as fund-raisers to help the sport. Even without a pay-to-play program, we know parents are paying."

New Haven currently allows all athletes, both middle and high school, to participate without additional fees. Wunderlich added that because the district has a graduation requirement for students to be involved in some sort of extra-curricular activity, the district "want(s) to encourage them to be involved and not potentially stop involvement by charging for it."

With the new L’Anse Creuse program, high school students at L'Anse Creuse and will have to pay $140 to play a sport starting in the 2012-13 school year. (The cost for golf is $125 with no transportation provided.) There is a two-sport (or $280 maximum) per year.

Middle school students will have to pay $75 per sport, with a maximum of two sports (or $150) for the year.

The maximum a family would have to pay is $560, and that may include a combination of high school and middle school sports.

L’Anse Creuse will offer reduced rates and scholarships for students and families that can demonstrate need.

New Haven is one of only a few area districts still without a pay-to-play program.