Pender County Board of Education proposes new idea for Topsail Booster Clubs

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY)– Next week, the Pender County Board of education is going to have a meeting that could determine the fate of parent run booster programs.

Football, Basketball, and Baseball, these are just some of the sports programs in Topsail High School that were funded by the now suspended Topsail Athletic Boosters Organization.

The suspension comes after booster treasurer, Erin Coleen Schmidt, was arrested and accused of taking more than 50 thousand dollars in booster funds.

To fix the situation, the Pender County Board of Education held a special closed meeting on Tuesday.

WWAY obtained audio of the meeting, and one idea that was brought up by a board member, was bringing all the outside booster clubs under one umbrella with a volunteer board.

“What we’re talking about is consolidating the booster clubs. I think there are three, into one. We don’t want the money on the front end. We want the booster club to control the money,” said one Board Member.

There are critics of that idea, they point to the fact there are other booster organizations that are not affiliated with the Topsail Booster Club.

One of the organizations is headed by Dugout Baseball Club, who worries the new unified organization will harm current relationships they have with donors.

“We strongly believe that both of our clubs can go to our partners now and they will still support us. That isn’t necessarily the case if we say we don’t really know who this new organization is,” said the member of Dugout Baseball Club. “We don’t really know where that money is going. We don’t feel comfortable with that. I think that’s something that very much concerns us.”

One board member says it will be easier to manage relationships and funding, if it’s all put under one roof.

“We are asking you to help us set up this new club in which you could be a subcommittee of girls’ basketball, boys’ basketball, wrestling etc. Everybody else could be a subcommittee of, and function with parental oversight amongst each other, then whatever oversight the county would need to be a parent support group,” said one member.

The Pender County Board of Education will hold a “Committee of the Whole” on March 31st, where they will hope to further discuss the future of booster club organizations.