The Albert Lea Dance Team may get at least one more year of life from the school board, if the board approves a proposal to have the dance team boosters provide the funding.

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

The Albert Lea Dance Team may get at least one more year of life from the school board, if the board approves a proposal to have the dance team boosters provide the funding.

Members of the team, their parents and members of the boosters brought the proposal to the board at last night’s meeting.

Citing the lack of a uniform monetary gift policy for the district, the proposal was tabled until a district gift policy has been approved.

&uot;Our goal is to be ready to approve a gift policy by our next meeting,&uot; said Ken Peterson, board chairman. The board has been holding workshops and collecting information about gift and donation policies from other districts. A number of groups have been discussing funding options over the past couple of months, he said.

&uot;We want to be consistent with all of them,&uot; he said.

Once the policy is approved, the board can begin acting on requests like the one from the dance team, he added.

During the discussion on the dance teams proposal, board member Carol Haun also asked for information about why the dance team is not considered a &uot;sport&uot; by the Minnesota State High School League, the statewide school sports organization that also governs dance team competition.

Charla Kleinbeck, the dance team coach, said that her focus right now was on finding funding for next year, but that the designation of the dance team as a sport was an issue that she and other coaches around the state have been trying to address. She plans on doing what she can to bring the issue up this fall with officials from the MSHSL.

Dance team supporters are hoping for a quick decision, because the tryouts for the team need to take place in April and early May in order for team members to have the summer to work on choreography and attend dance camps. MSHSL rules stipulate that some of the choreography for the team has to be created by the members of the team themselves, and the summer is the best time to do that.

Supporters are still hopeful that the board’s eventual answer will be positive.

&uot;We’ll have to take this one step at at time and this is the first step,&uot; said Kim Danner, president of the dance team boosters.

The only option for the dance team to remain a competitive program is if it is sponsored by the school district, said Danner. Without that sponsorship the program would have to become an exhibition type of activity, she said.

&uot;We are very sensitive to the fact that a lot of groups from the schools are out asking for money. We’ll be trying to raise money using a variety of different fund raisers,&uot; said Danner.

The proposal from the boosters would only cover the costs of the team for the 2002-2003 school year. Supporters are hoping that the district will find the funding necessary to continue the team after that.

&uot;We know we can’t fund this ourselves every year, but this proposal at least keeps the team alive for the next year,&uot; Danner said.

Twenty-two girls competed on the team this year, although more than 50 tried out. Last year’s team had 28 members. According to both Kleinbeck and Danner, interest among girls currently in the eighth grade is strong.

Besides the competitive season, which runs from the beginning of November to the end of February, the team also has an exhibition season in the fall. This year the team made it into the sectional tournament, but did not earn a spot at the state tournament.