By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

An Osceola County School District policy that requires student athletes to pay fines that may be levied against them by the Florida High School Athletic Association is being scrutinized by Osceola County School Board Chairman Cindy Lou Hartig.

Rule 5.80 of the School Board’s policy manual, which passed in November of 2009, states that no school district funds may be used to pay fines levied against a student, coach, district employee or school booster.

The rule states that when the school receives notification from the FHSAA of an infraction, that the fine shall be payable immediately to the school from the responsible person.

Most FHSAA fines are either $100, for a Level 1 violation, or $250 for a Level 2 offense. A Level 1 infraction is considered a relatively minor incident; a Level 2 violation reflects gross or combative conduct by the responsible party. The FHSAA adds a minimum two-game suspension for a Level 1 infraction which rises to as much as six weeks for a Level 2 violation.

Clouding the issue is the fact that a Level 1 fine is not levied by the FHSAA until the fourth infraction by a team during a single sports season, according to FHSAA Policy 30.2.1.1. The $250 fine for a Level 2 incident is levied after a second violation during a season.

That means that all county students committing a Level 1 violation will pay a $100 fine to the School District whether or not the school itself is fined by the FHSAA.

Although Rule 5.80 passed by a majority vote of the School Board while Hartig was a board member, she did not recall the issue being discussed.

“It was probably on the consent agenda, which I have since learned from experience to pay much closer attention to,” Hartig said last week.

The consent agenda consists of a group of items that are brought before the board for approval. The board may pass the agenda without discussing individual items.

Hartig said that given the  troubled state of the Osceola County economy, with 12 percent unemployment, re-quiring student athletes to pay a fine might cause a hardship for some families.

“I absolutely don’t think that a student or parent should be required to pay a fine,” she said. “I don’t think that’s right.”

Ryan Adams, the Osceola County School District coordinator of athletics, said Rule 5.80 was designed to ensure that all students found in violation of FHSAA rules are treated equally.

“What happened in the past was that the kids who committed the first and second incidents weren’t fined anything, then the fourth one got hit with the whole fine. That wasn’t fair,” Adams said. “We also had a situation at a school where we had to keep going back to the same student’s parents two or three times because as more fines came in, the amount they owed kept changing. The School District decided that it had to come up with a policy to make this fair for everyone.”

Adams agrees with Hartig that the fines may be a hardship for some students.

“That’s why we have a very flexible payment plan that lets students pay by the month if they want to,” Adams said.

Each Osceola County FHSAA member school has an account dedicated to FHSAA fines, Adams said.

“I can understand the concern, but all of our athletes are made aware of this rule before each season. The School District sends a form to each student’s parents that requires a signature before the student can participate,” Adams said.

Most local coaches who expressed an opinion did not have a problem with the fines.

“If they are the ones who cause the problem, they should be the ones to pay the consequences,” Osceola High Athletic Director and Wrestling Coach Jim Bird said. “If they don’t pay it, who’s going to do it? I don’t have the money for it.”

Students who do not pay a mandated fine are not permitted to continue the season, Adams said.

An Orange County District Schools spokesman said that athletes are not required to pay fines levied by the FHSAA, but Polk County athletes do pay fines.

Polk County Athletic Director Don Bridges said each Polk athlete that is ejected from a game is required to pay a $50 fine to the school.

“We’re planning to go to the school board and request that it be increased to $100 for a Level 2 fine and $150 for a Level 3,” Bridges said.