When Principal Matt Brungardt decided to turn over concessions to the district food services this summer, he had no idea he would create such a controversy. Now, the repercussions of that decision continue to mar relations between the administration and Student Council.
From Brungardt’s perspective, the decision was practical. The school needed someone to run concessions at home games, and choosing the district food services seemed the best option. He asked StuCo sponsor David Platt if StuCo wanted to man the booths and do the sales, and they declined.
However, Platt and StuCo leadership views the situation differently.
While the school created 14 new paid positions for concessions, according to Platt, the school was unwilling to pay StuCo for its services.
“The nice thing you could say is that it creates job opportunities for adults, but at the same time, it takes away service opportunities and learning opportunities and experience opportunities from the kids,” Platt said.
StuCo had never sold concessions at football games before. That task fell on the district and Haskell when the games were played at Haskell Stadium, so Platt and StuCo were not particularly irritated by the new the policy at the start.
However, when Brungardt decided to extend the arrangement to basketball concessions as well, StuCo was outraged.
“Basically we were just told that we didn’t get to do concessions this year by the administration,” StuCo President Leslie Queen said. “We were all just in shock because we didn’t know how we were going to make money, and we’ve already had to start cutting back on stuff because we don’t have the funds.”
It is the money, more than anything, which has StuCo most frustrated. During the 2008-09 basketball season alone, StuCo brought in over $3,300 and netted approximately $2,000 profit.
“That’s about our full budget for the year,” Platt said.
However, Brungardt maintains there was no foul play.
“Our intent was not to ease Student Council out of the revenue stream,” Brungardt said. “I don’t want to speak for them, but for whatever reason, they decided to walk away.”
In the wake of the decision, StuCo has had to cut back on spending that traditionally goes toward things like tiaras and flowers for Homecoming and local charities. Those funds are dwindling, and the organization faces long-term financial problems.
“It hasn’t affected us this year because we had a cushion built up,” Platt said. “Where it will cost us is next year and down the road.”
To make up for lost revenue, StuCo has sold water and pop from the StuCo window and has brought in some money from the occasional Hot Dog Thursday. However, these efforts only account for a fraction of what StuCo would have brought in through basketball concessions.
On the other end, the administration has a new revenue stream in a time of extreme financial difficulty. Though, from the administration’s perspective, concessions are “not a big money maker,” the estimated $6,000 profit will certainly help.
Where and for what the money will used is still up for debate; however, Brungardt said that it would “make sense” for the money to go to the athletic department given that the district has not increased athletic subsidies in over a decade. New basketball uniforms cost $6,000. Reconditioning football helmets would require $4,500. Even a volleyball trip to Maize, Kan., costs the school $1,500. The money could go to any of these causes.
However, Platt still objects to what he sees as administrative high-handedness.
“The thing is that there are people getting paid to do that [work],” Platt said. “They were paying adults to work, but unwilling to pay the organization that was already working.”
The administration chose to hire district food services for football games because according to Brungardt, “it made sense from a district perspective.” The district employees met all the food-handling requirements, and food services can buy in bulk while StuCo cannot.
But from Queen’s point of view, these obstacles were part of what made selling concessions such a valuable experience for StuCo members.
“We learn about responsibility, and it’s fast and there’s pressure,” the StuCo president said. “You learn work skills. I feel like this year’s sophomores and juniors won’t get that because, obviously, that’s been taken away by the administration.”
Though StuCo has yet to get over the sting of the decision, the reality remains. Brungardt and the administration chose to go a different direction, and the decision is final.