From Where I sit on the Ledyard Town Council

I was a member of the Board of Education when Ledyard instituted its “Pay for Play” Policy.  The policy, initiated during a particularly austere budget season, requires students to pay a fee to play after school sports. Ledyard has taken more than a few hits in the editorial section of the local newspaper about the policy.  When we studied the idea, we questioned what other towns were doing to raise additional funds.  I specifically remember being told that East Lyme didn’t have a Pay for Play policy but they did something else to raise revenue but no one wanted to talk about it.  I was always puzzled by that response.  Now I understand. 

The Day reported yesterday that for 20 years the East Lyme Board of Education has been charging students illegally for supplies like textbooks and other course materials.  They must have found it amusing all these years when Ledyard was taking the heat for their Pay for Play program.  If they didn’t know what they were doing was illegal, they should have. Just sayin.