Booster Shake-Up: Umatilla High To Take Spending Decisions From Boosters

    The Umatilla High School Bulldog Boosters is no more, at least in the sense of how the group has operated for decades. Members of the volunteer group on Monday voted to embrace a new mission and name, and will in the future operate less independently as the high school itself takes a larger role in how money is spent on athletics.
    The group has been in flux in recent times, and has even seen its non-profit tax status expire. The group’s officers resigned in the last month amid membership strife regarding how money should be spent.
    That won’t be a problem going forward, as the group has agreed to fall under an umbrella more closely controlled by the high school, as presented by school athletic director Pat Todd on Monday night.
    “It’s a collegiate concept,” Todd said of the new structure that conceives fundraising for both annual operational needs and larger capital projects. The school hopes to increase giving and envisions larger projects than in the past, as well as raising enough money each year to allow students to participate in sports without having to pay any fees.
    A keystone of the program eliminates the need for coaches or the school to come to the boosters with funding requests. Instead, all the money raised will go to the school, which will distribute the funds to programs as it sees fit.
    “I am super excited to be part of something I think is going to be great,” said school principal Brent Frazier, who along with the school’s athletic department will guide expenditures going forward. “This place is special. We have a chance to do something big.”
    New booster president James Roach encouraged the move, voicing the belief that the changes will allow volunteers the ability to focus on fundraising without the worry of deciding how the money is spent.
    “We act as the fundraising arm of the athletic department,” he said, adding that he hopes to be able to raise as much as $125,000 a year for the school’s use.
    The new association’s bylaws will be up for review at its next meeting, on December 6, with plans for the new entity to be up and running in January, in time for the annual Bulldog Night fundraiser in February.