City Section could impose transportation fee in 2010-11

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The cash-strapped City Section is considering implementing a transportation fee for students participating in athletics starting with the 2010-11 school year, according to Commissioner Barbara Fiege.

Fiege said the concept is still in the preliminary discussion stages and did not know how much athletes might be charged, but this is not good news for students whose families are already struggling to make ends meet.

The City Section has already implemented several cost-cutting measures for next season, including a reduction in the number of baseball and softball league games, elimination of junior varsity playoffs and reduction of buses used to transport teams.

‘For the current year, we were able to make the necessary reductions,’ Fiege said. ‘However, we also realize that more cuts may be made next year [in 2010-11]. The cuts from this year definitely have an impact on schools, as all need to share the burden of the deficit. Even with decreasing the number of contests, eliminating some of the playoffs and reducing the number of buses, we were still able to allow most athletes to participate in their sport at some level.

‘We may not fully know where the hardships have been created until we begin the new sport season.’

--Ben Bolch