White County Schools Looking To Avoid Fundraising Fatigue

The White County Schools looking for answers on student fundraising versus over burdening local businesses and residents.

Board Member Adam Hickey said during a recent school board meeting that community members had reached out to him saying they were overwhelmed by the number of fundraisers they were being asked to support. Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said the system does not want to overburden community members.

“We’re not going to let our students go without,” Dronebarger said. “We’re not going to let our teams go without, but we may look at things and make a differentiation between needs and wants and sometimes that’s what’s necessary. So we’ll look at their budgets. We’ll help them make sure this purchase is really necessary or not.”

Dronebarger said he does not think there is an increase in fundraisers, but organizations are not following the fundraising processes already in place. He said he thinks changes in coaches and PTO members bringing in fundraising ideas may be one cause of fundraising fatigue.

“I think that’s what’s kind of peaked the interest or moved the needle a little bit, so we’re attuned to that,” Dronebarger said. “We’re going to make sure to regroup here, especially looking at our athletic teams. I know our community is so supportive. They’ve been great over the years, but we certainly don’t want to abuse that, so we want to listen closely when those rumblings come up and see what we need to do to adjust.”

Dronebarger said the he takes the complaints Hickey has heard very seriously.

“I think the boards action is clear,” Dronebarger said. “I’m their employee. Their job is to let me know there’s a problem, and I’ll look into to that and see what we need to do to adjust, and they’ll kind of keep their ear to the rail to see if the community is satisfied with that.”

Dronebarger said there are also ways outside of fundraising to help fund sports and clubs that these organizations will need to look into.