What do you do when it’s too cold for the kiddies to go outside during recess and the gym is being used by another class?
Adjust the schedule? Heck no, raise money selling frozen foods in order to buy a bunch of Wiis!
Ohio’s East Avon Elementary School did just that and its fundraiser pulled in $4600 which school board president Susan Harrison hopes to put towards the purchase of 28 Wiis. While Harrison admits gym time would be the preferable option, the Wii is a popular second choice with some parents.
“[Parents] think it’s a good idea to give the kids something to do. Winter is so long, and they can be inside for so long. What it does is get them up around and moving. It’s not video games, and you have board games, but you can lose pieces. You can buy more, but mainly it’s the interaction of the kids and that they are up and moving.”
Not surprisingly, some parents aren’t too keen on the fundraiser money being used for video games, especially when the school district already has a levy on the May ballot.
“The levy is more for operating funds — teachers, light bill, day-to-day operations of the school — we need to do something for the kids,” said Harrison. “It’s better this way than to take it out of the general fund, which I’m sure we would never approve. It’s kind of comparing apples to oranges.”
If the fundraiser doesn’t cover the cost of the Wiis, Harrison said the school’s principal, Sherry Szczepanski, would be willing to pay for the rest out of the principal’s activity fund.
At this time, the school board has yet to decide what to do.
AE: To be fair, it’s quite possible that the gym is in use all day and no amount of schedule finagling would have facilitated its use for recess. I requested comment from the school on this and a few other things but have yet to hear back.
Via: The Morning Journal
-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics Contributing Editor Andrew Eisen
