Newfield school district to pull funding for elementary school clubs

On June 23, the Newfield Central School District’s Board of Education unanimously voted to approve a resolution to move elementary school student clubs’ extraclassroom funds to the high school’s Student Council for disbursement. This move, which affects only the funding and not the activities themselves, will bring the district into compliance with state regulations regarding clubs.

The issue was first brought up after David Shaw, business administrator for the district, gave a presentation at the board’s regular meeting June 2. Shaw said that the clubs should be “dissolved” in the middle of May, with his decision based on advice from the district’s auditors and legal counsel.

Shaw said that this change was about getting the district into compliance with the law and ensuring that it makes responsible decisions with its finances.

“Under New York state regulations, the way we were doing this was not allowable,” Shaw said. “So, when our auditors tell us that, we have a responsibility to respond so we are being fiscally responsible overall.”

According to Shaw, elementary school students are too young to manage the funds necessary to run the clubs. Elementary school student organizations can still meet and get help from teachers, but those gatherings do not meet the legal definition of a student club, in which students manage the funds. As such, these elementary school student “clubs” are known as student activities and supported by parent-teacher organizations or by high school clubs.

“The term ‘club’ can just be a little vague,” Shaw said. “When I say ‘club’ in the way we’re talking here, I’m talking about club finances, a club that has funds, does fundraising and expensing funds, an extracurricular club. We have several processes to keep track of funds, to make sure funds are being used in a responsible manner and are being tracked appropriately. These elementary school groups or activities aren’t able to manage funds in that way. You can still call them a club — or an activity, or a group, or whatever you want to call them — but in this case, we’re talking about a club and that’s it.”

Shaw said the decision would not result in any changes to Newfield’s elementary school student activities, only to how they get the funds necessary for them to continue operating. He described the resolution as a behind-the-scenes move that will not affect the students in the clubs or their parents.

“The only thing that’s changing is how these clubs get funded,” Shaw said. “That’s the only thing that’s changing. The clubs are continuing to exist. The kids are having exactly same program as before. We’re just changing how the funds get to the programs.”

Around the same time Shaw brought up the legal issues with the elementary school student activities, he also mentioned that the High School Cafe and Students Against Drunk Driving had not done any activities or fundraising for at least two years, so the clubs will be ended and the funds moved to the Student Council.

Shaw said that in the end, he wanted elementary school students’ extracurricular activities to continue.

“We want the activities to continue,” he said. “We want the kids to have their time to do the things they want to do without disruption — that’s absolutely our goal here.”

Newfield Notes appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.

In brief:

Empty Bowls Fundraiser rescheduled

The Newfield Empty Bowls Fundraiser, which was originally scheduled for June 22, has been rescheduled to June 29 due to the weather and will take place in Mills Park from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is a fundraiser to support the Newfield Kitchen Cupboard, in which attendees purchase and eat ice cream out of handmade bowls. In addition to the ice cream, the event will feature live music as entertainment.

Planning Board to meet

The town of Newfield’s Planning Board will hold its monthly meeting July 6 from 7 to 9 p.m. For more information or the Zoom link, go to newfieldny.org.

Library news

The Newfield Public Library will hold its summer program kickoff from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 30. The name of the series is the Oceans of Possibility Summer Event.

For more information, go to tinyurl.com/23m628xl.

As part of the programming series, the library will host an Adventure Club meeting from 3:30 to 4 p.m. July 6. More information is available at newfieldpubliclibrary.org/events/adventure-club-330-4/.

The library’s next family storytime is July 5 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Visit newfieldpubliclibrary.org/events/family-storytime-1030-37/ for more information.

The library will be closed July 4 in observance of Independence Day.