Question: Why won't the Board of Education let our student athletes represent their high school?

Answer: We don't really know. The Board claims that they will only recognize the athletic teams which are included and paid for in the budget. They feel that allowing a team to be funded by parents and fund raising would be considered "pay-for-play".

Our Position: The North Hunterdon Ice Hockey Club is now in its 7th year of competition. For over 6 years many parents have approached the BOE asking for ice hockey to be added to the budget. Each year the BOE has not supported this request and in light of the current economy they are not likely to approve a new sport in this school in the near future.

We have proposed an "alternative funding solution" to the BOE to allow these great student athletes to represent their high school. This solution does not cost the taxpayers any money and it only requires the BOE to add the sport to its insurance policy,which has no impact on the budget. Click here for more information.

We have provided the BOE with a solution which will allow students to participate in a JV ice hockey league against many of the schools from the Skylands Conference. We are only asking the BOE to test this alternatively funded sport to see if this is a viable solution for adding a sport to North Hunterdon High School.

We feel confident that the North Hunterdon Ice Hockey Club is the best sport to test at this time based on the following:

1. We have an established club team that has been in existence for almost 7 years.
2. We have an established Middle School team that can continue to generate players into the program.
3. We have a comprehensive budget that has been validated for many seasons.
4. We have the financial commitment of parents and sponsors to generate very reasonable funding for the program to keep the burden off the BOE.
5. We have worked out a transportation company that can be utilized to transport the athletes to the practices and games.
6. We have already identified several qualified individuals willing to coach the team.
7. We have a JV league which competes against many of the Skylands Conference teams that is local and established.
8. We have secured ice time for practices.
9. Equipment (which will meet all requirements) is not an issue since 100% of the athletes who play hockey already have the necessary equipment and in most cases it is the top of the line athletic gear.
10. We have the committment of parents of these athletes who have children ranging from 3rd grade to seniors in HS will assist the organization if needed.
11. This established and successful Club Team can serve as an immediate alternative and standard for future Club Team requests.