TO:  Parents, Community Members, and Fans

FROM:  GMS Administration and Athletic Director

DATE: September 11, 2009

RE: Athletics at GMS

It was recently brought to our attention that we need to communicate to our stakeholders the financial needs and expenses of our GMS Athletic department and to explain why we need to charge admission to our athletic contests.  Athletics is not funded by the federal, state, or local governments, but is completely dependent on revenues and fund raisers at the school level to support the activities.  In the past we could use vending machine revenues to help offset costs, but with the law prohibiting schools from selling soft drinks and certain snacks during school hours, we no longer have this revenue.

We use our gate money from our athletic events and fund raisers to pay for equipment, referees, uniforms, transportation, and insurance.  There are many costs that fans do not know about such as the refurbishing of football helmets every summer, and this alone costs approximately $2,000.00.  Our transportation costs alone for athletics last year was over $9,000.00.  There are several other costs to factor in such as uniforms, balls, bats, and general equipment.  Our athletic budget has been so tight that we have not been able to buy uniforms the last two years for sports who were due new ones.

We also do fund raisers through the year such as the football car wash, and we work with our Athletic Booster Club to host such events as Applebee's Pancake breakfast or to sell GMS t-shirts.  Our coaches volunteer time to chaperone our dances (all grade levels and athletics split the dance profits) to help raise funds as well.

We want to continue to offer as many opportunities for our students to participate in a wide variety of sports, but this takes money.  So we need our gate money to continue to fund these extracurricular activities.   If you need more information or have questions, Mrs. Smith (Principal) or Mr. Townsley (Vice Principal/Athletic Director) will be available at 639-7841 or email us at smiths@gcschools.net or townsleyj@gcschools.net.