As a parent I think I should have some rights when it comes to my child in our school system. I attended the mandatory spring sports meeting at the high school last Tuesday night along with the rest of the parents. Being a parent of a very actively sports-oriented child, I understand the financial hardship that our school district is going through and the reason behind the district not providing transportation to non-league games. The district has asked for help from us parents. Great - no problem.

Being a graduating Grizzly myself I don't mind driving to a non-league game so our kids can participate in all the season games. As always in the past years, I am happy to provide my vehicle, sign a waiver of liability or whatever is needed so these kids can participate as they should. We were all asked to be "volunteer drivers" but it does have a catch. We must provide the following items to the school district in order to “volunteer.” We must pay to have our fingerprints on file in our county, have a TB test completed, pay to have a DMV report printed, sign a waiver of liability and also carry the correct amount of auto insurance per the district’s standards.

Well...first off, my finger prints are on file with the state of California because I hold a California real estate sales license. I carry the correct amount of auto insurance, etc., etc. I don’t have a problem providing all of these items in order to “volunteer” to drive other teammates to games. I do however have a problem with providing all of these items to drive my own child. That is correct. I cannot drive my own child to a game even though I can provide proof that I carry the correct amount of insurance plus sign a waiver of liability. Now, the interesting thing is that I can't drive my own child to a non-league or a league game, but I can attend that game and then not only sign out my own child but any teammate whose parent has listed me on their child’s sign out sheet.

Now, maybe I am missing something but common sense tells me that if I am allowed to drive my own child and teammates home, why not to the game too? But, maybe common sense just isn’t too common anymore. I have no problem driving just my own child and signing a waiver releasing the district of liability, in fact I would bet none of the parents that attended the same meeting as I did have a problem with that. Maybe our school district can rethink this new policy and come up with some common sense.

Leslie Foley

Editor’s Note: MCHS has funding for non-league transportation through the funds raised at last summer’s “Hoedown.” Some of the planned tournaments are above and beyond the amount allotted by Hoedown funds, thereby requiring private transportation.