Is this something he can just do?
Over the years, the boosters have developed an invitational meet for the high school teams (girls and boys) that is a pre-Districts event. For many of the JV kids, this is their big finale for the season that they otherwise wouldn't have had, or their last chance at qualifying for a spot at Districts.
We run the whole thing. We rent the pool, we invoice the schools attending (basically covers the cost of the pool rental), we apply for parking permits with the city, we get the meet officials organized, we offer hospitality to our meet officials and all the coaches (about 50-60 people), etc.
Now we have a new athletic director. He has decided that he wants all of the admissions that we charge and the cut that we get from the apparel vendor. It is my understanding that this will go into the **general** ASB funds at the school, along with admissions prices from all the school team events. It doesn't look like he's giving us a say in the matter. He will let us run the concessions, and print our own heat-sheets to sell so that we can earn the money to pay for the hospitality for the meet officials that we also will still provide. Basically, it looks like he wants to cherry-pick and take our easier source of funds that we use for team purposes, and leave us with the labor.
The money we earn from the invitational helps to buy team shirts for the boys. The team shirts are some of their favorite clothing – for the boys in particular - and we've turned it into a team building event with special names chosen by team captains printed on each shirt and revealed at a team dinner before the event. We also need to take care of our meet officials. The only meet for the whole season that they are paid for is Districts. The rest is volunteer work on their part, so we treat them well with food and team apparel. We also have to get volunteers to cover all of the timer positions and most of the meet set-up during the entire season, as well as Districts. The school does not provide for that. We also buy equipment needed by the coaches as they don't have to submit through the school - which requires planning ahead a season or two and not asking too much, lest it get turned down (it's all-or-nothing with the school's system). We bought the giant scoreboard and the record boards that hang at the pool. The scoreboard is used by many other groups.
Does anyone have any advice on this situation? Is there anything that we can do? Is this something that the school can just decide is "theirs"? I honestly don't know how this type of thing works.
The first thing I would suggest is to sit down with the athletic director and discuss your concerns. Some states have very specific rules defining the roles of high school booster groups, in particular how revenues are handled, for accounting and transparency purposes. It may be that he is just following the state guidelines, but he should be able to explain it to you if that is the issue.
I know of at least one AD who was fired for stuff the boosters were doing without their knowledge.
That being said, running a meet is a huge effort and he needs your support. He's just making a money grab and expecting for you to still do all the work, I'd tell him good luck, head for the door and contact the school board.
The first thing I would suggest is to sit down with the athletic director and discuss your concerns. Some states have very specific rules defining the roles of high school booster groups, in particular how revenues are handled, for accounting and transparency purposes. It may be that he is just following the state guidelines, but he should be able to explain it to you if that is the issue.
I know of at least one AD who was fired for stuff the boosters were doing without their knowledge.
That being said, running a meet is a huge effort and he needs your support. He's just making a money grab and expecting for you to still do all the work, I'd tell him good luck, head for the door and contact the school board.
