Boundary Central Secondary School (BCSS) will be adding an additional $25 to their school fees for student athletes.
The fee was added to offset the rising costs of transportation and registration for students participating in school sports.
“BCSS had an ‘Ah-ha!’ moment with the expenses they were experiencing as they were taking teams to tournaments,” explained School District 51 Superintendent of Schools Michael Strukoff. “There’s always registration fees and tournament fees, and all of that was coming out of their operating and P.E. (physical education) budgets. They felt it was time that they would join what was happening to the rest of schools, not only Grand Forks Secondary School (GFSS), but all the other schools.”
The issue of including the additional fee for BCSS students arose last June. Strukoff noted that BCSS was asked to consult with GFSS over the fee.
“BCSS made a conscious decision for just this amount,” said Strukoff.
At GFSS, there is a sports team transportation fee of $35 for Grade 8 students, $50 for juniors, and $75 for senior students per sport. There is also a sports team uniform deposit that is $60 to $100, which is dependent on the sport and refunded upon return of the uniform.