Costa Mesa High boosters unhappy with decision to split funds
Costa Mesa High School boosters expressed disappointment this week that funds raised from Orange County Fair parking in school lots will no longer be collected by volunteers to benefit athletic and extracurricular programs.
Instead, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District will allow use of the lots to the fairgrounds for $90,000 and split the money evenly between the associated student bodies at Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools. Last year, nearly $100,000 in proceeds went exclusively to Mesa.
“I feel robbed,” CMHS parent Patricia Villalpondo said. “This affects our families directly, and our families work hard to pay for everything.”
Villalpondo volunteered in the lots more than 50 hours last summer to help raise money for her son’s football and basketball fees, as well as an upcoming trip to San Francisco with his classmates in the DELTA Academy math and science program.
Last summer, parents and students collected money and guided fairgoers through the parking lots across from the fairgrounds. This year, the OC Fair & Events Center will provide the parking attendants working the CMHS lots during the July 15 to Aug. 14 fair.
The arrangement will provide equitable distribution of money for the use of district-owned facilities, according to NMUSD spokeswoman Annette Franco.
“It’s been best practice that anything we do in partnership with the city benefits all our schools,” she said.
Last year, parking was either $5 or $7, depending on which lot visitors chose, according to Nigel Fisher, president of the aquatics booster club and a planning team member for the parking fundraiser.
“We had phenomenal participation from the school district and administration in coordinating it and also the city, (which) donated the traffic cones we could use,” Fisher said.
For nearly the duration of last year’s fair, around 25 different booster groups for sports or student programs participated. Revenue was redistributed in proportion to volunteer hours.
“Not only did it benefit the students, but it was an amazing experience because it brought together the school community,” said Katrina Foley, a city councilwoman and Mesa booster parent. “It was a crossing over of parents who don’t (normally) get the chance to interact together, like band parents hanging out with the science academy parents.”
Though this summer’s fundraiser will aid Mesa and Estancia’s student bodies, ASB funding cannot go toward individual groups or programs, such as sports.
“The purpose of the ASB fund is to benefit all students,” said Carey Delzer, Mesa’s school activities director. “It’s not used for one group.”
For example, Delzer said, all students may obtain an ASB sticker that will grant them free access to home sporting events and reduced ticket prices for dances, choir concerts or plays. ASB funds offset the cost for those events so that the student body can attend either for free or at a lower cost.
Not every Mesa booster is opposed to the new arrangement, even if the funds benefit their crosstown rival.
“I actually think it’s fine,” Fisher said. “It’s something that will benefit all the kids of the city.”
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Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
