Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 7/26/2023
WILBRAHAM — Representatives from the Minnechaug Regional High School athletics Booster Club were asked tough questions at the July 20 Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee meeting.
Distressed parents and concerned committee members asked former Booster Club presidents Ronald DeCurzio and Michael Flynn, what happened to the money?
Flynn began with a history of the club and said the current incarnation was started in the 1980s after the community became upset because various teams were repeatedly asking the same businesses for money. He also said that not all the money being raised for athletics was being turned over to the Minnechaug Regional High School athletics department.
The Booster Club became an umbrella organization the coordinates between each sport’s spirit groups. Spirit groups can fundraise after receiving permission from the Booster Club, which coordinates to make sure no one business or facility is being used by more than one spirit group.
DeCurzio said that the Booster Club raises funds through a $25 fee for each family with at least one student athlete playing a sport. Each family is only charged a fee once per year. The Boosters also sell discount cards for town vendors and collect revenue from concession sales. When a spirit group wants to purchase an item, DeCurzio said he checks with the team’s coach or the high school’s athletic director to confirm there is a legitimate need for the item. From there, the cost is split evenly between the Booster Club’s account and the spirit group’s account.
School Committee member Sherrill Caruana told Flynn and DeCurzio that she has received emails from parents who fundraised for the hockey team only to find that there was a discrepancy between what was raised and what was deposited into the sport’s account. During public comment, one parent said they were concerned about where the money had gone and that no one could give her an answer. Another said the Booster Club lacked transparency in terms of meetings and schedules.
When asked about the fundraising process, DeCurzio said once the event is approved by the Booster Club, the coach or spirit group representative conducts the fundraiser. He insisted that “100% of what they fundraise goes into the spirit account,” but also said that since the coronavirus pandemic, coordinating between spirit groups and turning money over to the spirit accounts “has become a little lax.”
Regarding the hockey fundraiser that parents had contacted the School Committee about, DeCurzio said the spirit group raised $15,662. “I don’t know what the organization took off the top,” he said, but a check for $12,186 was received by the Booster Club and deposited into the spirit account. He noted the check was missing for a time because it was left in the wrong mail slot.
On another topic, DeCurzio noted that the Booster Club funding is designed to be used solely for sports equipment and athletic infrastructure. When a fundraiser was advertised without the Booster Club’s permission in December 2022, the website stated the money raised would be used to pay for senior gifts. He said that the Booster Club asked that the website be changed to reflect that the funding would go to equipment and infrastructure, and only then did the Booster Club approve the event.
Caruana called communication between the Booster Club and the parents “the missing piece.” DeCurzio pushed back on that, saying communication with parents is handled by coaches and the athletic director and has never been part of the Booster Club’s responsibilities.
A great deal of discussion was had over the fact that the board of directors and DeCurzio had resigned at the same time, leaving the Booster Club without a quorum of seven members. The organization’s bylaws state that outgoing members must choose replacements. Without a quorum, that cannot be done.
Additionally, School Committee member Sean Kennedy asked if a lack of a quorum meant the Booster Club funds were frozen. DeCurzio insisted that the money would revert to the School Committee’s control, but Kennedy pointed out that the School Committee is not even mentioned in the bylaws. School Committee Chair Michal Boudreau said she had reached out to the committee’s legal counsel for an opinion on what body controls the money in such a case.
Flynn emphasized that the Booster Club is not a nonprofit entity, but instead is “like any other club” at the school. Hampden Board of Selectmen member Donald Davenport said the Turf@Chaug website to raise funds for a turfed field lists the Booster Club as a 501c3 nonprofit. He also said more than 100 Booster Clubs across the state are registered as charity organizations. DeCurzio stated that the nonprofit created to raise funds for the turf field is not the same organization as the Booster Club that works with Minnechaug Regional High School’s athletics programs.
School Committee member Bill Bontempi defended the Booster Club and said it was created to prevent embezzlement and aid athletics fundraising.
The conversation was tabled due to time constraints and will be picked up at a future meeting.