Superintendent’s Pay-to-Participate Public Statement - September 4, 2018
The Shelton Board of Education, due to a pattern of under-funding, leaving our students to learn and grow in one of the lowest funded districts in CT, continually needs to make due with less.
Our dual priorities are student safety and academic opportunities.
After reducing our workforce while trying to maintain a qualified, professional staff, we now must ask families to help support important programs in athletics and the arts. As the cost of healthcare, utilities, and labor go up our funding has not kept pace. We need the community’s help to provide for programs we cannot afford any longer.
We do not like Pay-to-Participate, and we will work with families to make this work, but with our consistently low per pupil expenditure (near the very bottom of the state-published annual listing of all school districts), we now need the direct support from the community to meet our legally mandated priorities, as well as traditional athletics and arts-based activities.
"Pay to Participate" will help keep our excellent programs in the arts and athletics sustainable.
A link to the specific details of "Pay to Participate" can be found on our website and on the attached Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document regarding “Pay to Participate”.
By the end of the first week of school (9/7/18) – parent/guardians will be able to electronically pay for their student’s participation in school activities via Infinite Campus – Parent Portal.
Through the Parent Portal – parents/guardians will be able to access individual student information regarding “Fees” and “Payments” similar to the way parents currently use the Point of Sale system for our food service provider.
