NAUGATUCK — The Board of Education approved a revised policy to govern fundraising by school groups at its Dec. 12 meeting.
One of the major changes to the policy is the removal of the prohibition of door-to-door fundraising.
“That was taken out because we thought it would be more appropriate for principals to say whether they would allow students to go door to door,” said board member Scott Slauson, who chairs the board’s policy committee.
Slauson said the Naugatuck High School marching band often does door-to-door fundraisers in their full uniforms. However, when the policy was updated this August, school officials and the marching band members realized the restriction on door-to-door fundraising applied to all school-based groups in Naugatuck.
“If you put a policy in black and white and say you can’t do this, there is no way around it,” Slauson said.
Following concerns from the marching band the committee looked into the policy again to see what changes could be made.
Slauson said the committee found that surrounding school districts allow door-to-door fundraising, so the committee felt leaving the decision up to the principals was the best course of action.
The new policy also set a definitive timeline for groups to seek approval for their fundraising activities.
Slauson said the policy previously stated that a group needed to seek approval, but did not give a timeline.
“The request for a fundraiser didn’t have to be submitted by any certain time. It could be week, a month or whatever,” Slauson said. “Now, it has to be submitted to principal 30 days in advance.”
Slauson said that although the committee has removed the door-to-door restriction it is still a strong and in-depth policy.
“While it seems like we are making it more lenient we still have a strict policy for fundraising for what students are allowed to do,” Slauson said.
