UMSD School Board Takes a Look at the Condition of the District's Athletic Uniforms

In light of the pending co-curricular contracts, the Upper Moreland School District’s athletic and band uniform cycle has come under some scrutiny.

District superintendent Dr. Robert Milrod brought up the subject of how much uniforms cost and their life cycles at the Aug. 2 Programs and Services committee meeting.

Milrod explained to the committee that the state of athletic uniforms had become a focus after a parent had complained to him during this summer’s football camp.

According to Milrod, the parent’s son had asked to use a football helmet during practice to get used to wearing one during the regular season, but was denied because the student was told there weren’t enough helmets.

This led Milrod to begin an investigation of first the inventory of football uniforms, and then the uniforms and equipment of all co-curriculars.

“It’s systematically looking at what the needs are as a whole,” Mildrod said, stating the aim of the investigation.

As a result of Milrod’s ongoing investigation, the superintendent would like to create a review system conducted through the central office, similar to what is conducted with the district’s school building budgets every year.

The complexity of this task is multiplied by the unique needs of each co-curricular. As an example, Milrod pointed out that football helmets may only be legally kept for 10 years before needing replacement.

In the case of football helmets, Milrod said a system would need to be in place that replaces several helmets a year to always have a crop of helmets ready for students’ use. This is a similar system the district uses to keep its school buses updated.

And, according to Milrod, such an annual audit of the athletic department’s uniform cycles has either never been done before, or not done in years.

Upon hearing this, several of the school board members raised questions on how athletic funds are spent.

“I would never approve this without information,” school board president Dr. David Haikes said, speaking from a business standpoint.

During the committee meeting, Milrod produced a document that showed data on how much certain athletic uniforms cost. He said that the document was a first look at the costs of high school sports, and was the result of a brief conversation with the district’s athletic director, who was on vacation at the time.

The document, which mostly gave approximations on individual uniform prices, only brought more questions from school board members.

Mark Wenik, who sits on the committee, wanted to know more about uniform inventory versus how many students participate in the sport, which would give a better idea of how much funding a co-curricular would need.

Wenik also pointed out that some co-curricular sports, like the bowling team, purchased their own golf T-shirt uniforms.

Lisa Berlin, who also sits on the committee, added that some uniforms needed to be replaced altogether, including the football uniforms and the middle school band uniforms, which, she said, are a decade old.  

“There’s been an oversight to this,” Berlin said. “We need this to be fiscally responsible.”

Haikes added that the review system would have to root out which athletic team is in most need of replacement uniforms.

“Are we spending money with who just screams the loudest?” Haikes openly asked.

Haikes also expressed concern over Milrod taking on creating a new athletic uniform cycle review process.

Milrod admitted that the task would take up a significant amount of time. He said that it would be an early fall project, and he expects it would take the whole year to complete the review.

Milrod also pointed out a different review process would have to be developed for the co-curriculars’ equipment.