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Steamboat Springs — The new system of Tier 1 and Tier 2 activities already is in full swing, just in time for high school golfers to sign up for their sports, Steamboat Springs Superintendent Shalee Cunningham announced.

The new structure requires students in Tier 1 and 2 activities to pay $150 per sport, with a maximum of $300 per family. That money will be used to fund school-sponsored transportation, a change Steamboat Springs High School Athletics Director Richard Lee said was vital to reduce risk and liability.

"We've had these issues about parents driving other kids," he said. "This will go a long way to decrease those liability fears."

Parents of students in Tier 2 activities drive their own cars, full of their child's teammates, back and forth to games across the state.

"A parent driving down to a sports event and coming back through Rabbit Ears in a snowstorm," Lee said. "It's not a good situation."

High school Principal Kevin Taulman agreed with Lee, saying he does not expect the changes to affect Tier 2 activity participation in the district.

"It's a huge safety issue," he said. "It will be better to have drivers making that call about safety."

Instead of using a caravan of parent cars, the Tier 2 participants now will ride in school district buses or SUVs with certified drivers - either the coaches or regular bus drivers.

But high school baseball coach Dave Roy said it's not all bad for students in Tier 2 activities to raise money for their programs.

"Right now, we're at $175 per player, and I don't want to see their fees increase. I would rather go out and raise the money to go out and pay for those buses than risk the chance of the registration fee increased," Roy said. "I think it's good for the kids to go out and raise money, too. It's part of the program. It gives them ownership in the program."

Lee said the costs actually might decrease for students who participate in three activities, because the family maximum is now $300.

For example, if a student played football, basketball and lacrosse, under the old system the student would pay the maximum per family for Tier 1 activities, $200, plus all the costs for lacrosse.

Under the new system, the student would pay $300 to the district to cover all three sports. But the student still would be required to pay for any additional costs for lacrosse, such as equipment.

Students in Tier 1 and Tier 2 activities are required to pay for their own hotels if the trip lasts overnight.

"It would affect different Tier 2 sports in different ways," Lee said.

Roy said many of the parents are very involved in the program and will drive to games regardless of buses.

"The parents are going to go anyway. They're going to drive whether they are taking kids or not, so there are no savings, that I see, being passed on to the families."

Lee said the district has had very good luck in recent history, and there have been no crashes during his six-year term as athletics director.

The Steamboat Springs School Board decided the restructuring of the activities tiers could be accomplished without the vote of the board and was organized and announced at the meeting by Cunningham.

All-day K

Cunningham also announced that the district has settled on four classrooms of all-day kindergarten in the district. The classes are capped at 20 students apiece, and there are several already on the waiting list, she said.

The cost for the all-day program recently was dropped to $3,203 from $5,720, and Cunningham's report said the costs would be re-evaluated after the official October enrollment count.

Several students remain on the waiting list, and they may be admitted if students who registered for the classes decide not to attend, Cunningham said.