"There are times that things happen in the schools where we have to incur the costs. I hope some day to see all the fees gone. I'm sorry that this has to be done." Really? And when are these times -- During the youth sports activities or normal wear and tear with respect to the school season? Again, no data just rhetoric! Here is some data for you! Youth sports programs that run during the school year across Sept. to June. In ten Months the school is occupied by our students 180 days across a time frame of approx 7 to 8hrs. This comes out to a total effective use time of 180*7.5hrs = 1350 total use hours. The sports programs use about 3 to 4 hours over typically 6days/wk or 257days for a total of 900hours. If this is the case and each program that institutes this fee will add approx. $30k per year for Maintenance. Logically we must be spending the percentage difference of 1350hrs/900hrs*$30k = $45k and thus the total budget required to effectively restore these "Things that Happen" is $75k per school year! Really! -- go to the Heath Brook Gym/Dewing/North Street! I don't see it. The people of Tewksbury are clearly being taken advantage of.

These people that are sitting on this committee clearly lack the capability and mentality to ascertain information directly related to the job in front of them. Again, no where in any statement made by these members were proper numbers and figures and facts assembled or analyzed. Wake up Tewksbury!

The SC should be ashamed of itself. They did not do their homework - it's easy to just say they did. They picked $15 to "be consistent" with the outdoor user fee. That is the extent of their in-depth analysis. This is a money-grab bag job - pure and simple. The SC cowardly took the easy way out and took on the Tewksbury MO of screwing the kids and extorting more money from the parents. All SC members showed their true colors last night. The "line item" will be nothing but a joke. You will see no improvement in the gyms. Let the shell game begin. What an embarassment this town is becoming. We don't need *new* leadership - we need leadership.

Rich, you are a little off on the numbers. As for the elementary schools they share gym teachers so the gyms are only used half a week at each school, probably less at the smaller ones.

Does anyone know is basketball at each school every night of the week??

But after reading this article. The $15 fee applies to all sports. Why are the elementary school baseball fields such dumps?? Benches falling apart, fields in horrible shape? And on clean up days they have the parents help out. If this $15 has been paid for a while now then why arent they being fixed up???????? Where has the money gone???
Inside the gyms at the schools its the parents fixing them/painting them up too=free labor. Will the town start doing this instead? I doubt it.

I remember the $15 outdoor fee that started a couple years ago...and I have yet to see an improvement made by the town. The best fields in Tewksbury are the ones that are managed/updated by TYB. The school fields are a disaster, Livingston fields are a mess and yet we still pay that outdoor fee.

I say we veto this payment until we see changes to all of the fields that we have been paying into for the past 2 years.

Unfortunately Tom, your school committee has voted for the fee. My recommendation is to get the entire youth sports programs to collect these monies and set up an escrow account into yet another non-profit fund, "Fields and Complexes of Tewksbury Organization". Do not send any of this to the school department or town. Stand strong and tall, when a field or gym is in need of repair then submit the contract for work and pay it out of this account and make well known to all that the improvements have been made by the generous donations of the families of Tewksbury and the "Fields and Complexes of Tewksbury Organization".

My issue I have is that apparently the school committee feels the need to intervene and apparently, and without just knowledge or analysis of facts, believe that they need to be in control. Their "EGO" will be the poison of this community. Forcing the issue with an escrow account may be a way to humble these members into actually representing the basis to which they ran, elected position (school committee), in the first place!

Rich the one issue you are not addressing in that comment is that the leagues dont own the fields or the gyms. And as you may recall, last year there was quite a debate among the hoop programs over who should get gym priority. Your idea of an escrow account is interesting. That would certainly ensure that the money is used only for that purpose. But you would still need to overcome the fact that the town owns the fields and the school department owns the gyms.