The school district’s new fee structure charges a higher flat rate for the entire school year per activity than last year’s rates which charged a lower annual fee but tacked on a separate cost for every travel event.

The intent is to collect one overall fee for the year, based on the average amount of student travel, rather than collecting for each out-of-town activity.

One parent questioned the school board on Aug. 18 about the $125 increase in student activity fees, arguing it unfairly charges students for travel expenses they may never use.

Tasha Morse, the district’s K-12 music teacher, addressed the board as a parent, not a staff member, during the public comment section of the meeting, expressing concern about the fee increase from $150 to $275 for a high school student’s first activity.

The same $125 increase applies to a student’s second activity, now at $225, and third activity, now at $200.

The higher fee is designed to cover travel costs for the entire year, replacing the previous system that charged students a flat annual fee of $150 for the first activity plus $25 for travel for each event such as sports, music or arts.

Morse argued the change creates an inequitable situation for students who don’t travel to every scheduled event. She said it is unfair for those students to pay for travel they don’t take.

The board took no action on Morse’s concerns, but said they would consider her complaint.

Superintendent Joshua Garrett said in a later interview that the fee change was made to address problems with the previous pay-per-event system, where some students and parents failed to pay the $25 travel fee in a timely manner.

“Really, what we’re attempting is to change and establish a mindset for the sports program in the school district,” Garrett said. “It’s simple economics.”

Garrett, who is in his first year as superintendent and is still becoming familiar with district policies, said his understanding is that former Superintendent Bill Burr worked with the school board to determine the current fee structure as the most equitable approach.

The $125 fee increase is predicated on the idea that high school students participating in extracurricular activities will likely travel for an average of five different events, which would have cost a total of $125 under the previous policy.

Garrett defended the change as a way to streamline the process for students and create consistency across different sports seasons and other activities. He said the district hopes the new structure will eventually allow more students to participate in off-island events.

“We would like to see a chance in the future for every student to be able to travel off the island for different events,” he said. “The sports program is an important part of the local culture and community.”

Garrett emphasized that the district wants to simplify the fee collection process while maintaining programs that are valued by the community.

“We know this is important, and the district wants to streamline and simplify the process,” he said. “This is a situation where the mindset needs to shift.”