By ROBERTA SLANINA O'BRIEN

A determined group of parents spoke their position about jersey name-tags at the Avonworth School Board meeting on June 7.

Al Cuteri, representing the board's athletic committee, stated that the committee wishes to discontinue name plates on football jerseys. A booster committee of parents and players disagree. Their desire is to continue this practice that began last year when a decision was made by the athletic director, independent of the athletic committee.

The board acknowledged that it had received a 78-name petition to continue the practice, and that the booster group is offering to pay all jersey-related costs.

Currently, the name tags exist on the home football jerseys. They are not on the away team or practice jerseys.

"It is a question of, should you focus on the player or the team?" Cuteri said. "Parents also want to add name plates to the away game and practice jerseys, but for now, the discussion is about the home jerseys." Seniors are given their nametag shirts to keep. These are replaced annually.

Board member Jeff Schmid was in favor of keeping players' names on their jerseys, while board member Brenda Barlek has taken a stand against the name tags.

Throughout the meeting, parents reiterated that the boosters group would cover all related costs for the name tags. Some parents said that boosters should be working towards more name tags in more sports.

When a parent asked, "If it isn't costing the school money, why is it a problem"? Eric Templin responded that there were two issues involved.

He said, "There is a cost issue, and there is a philosophical issue that we could argue about all day."

He also stated, "This issue takes too much board time when there are other pressing issues."

Templin asked, "How financially responsible are we if the jerseys have no recycling and the material is damaged when the plates are removed? We started doing it last year because the athletic director decided we should. I will recommend removing names from all jerseys."

Other parents wondered why this issue exists only for the football team and not the other sports. Templin questioned if practice shirts were technically considered part of the uniform. Also mentioned in the discussion was the possibility, although slight, of college scouts identifying players.

Templin pointed out, "A future booster group could say no and the precedent has been set. "

To end the discussion, Templin asked Schmid to put together a motion to be included in the June 14 regular meeting agenda.