In 2006, I was saddened and disappointed when I, accompanied by my four children, returned to my alma mater, Capital High School, to watch my sister play one of her final basketball games as a Jaguar, but was turned away at the ticket booth.
I explained that because of the high cost of admission, I could only afford to pay entrance for myself and my two oldest sons, but that I desperately wanted to watch my sister play and support the team. I was told that if a body took up a seat, then I would have to pay for that seat in order to get in.
Needless to say, on my way home I thought about the fact that I missed out on seeing my sister play, on supporting the team and enjoying an opportunity for quality family fun with my children.
I know that my situation is not much different than many of the other parents and community members who live in Santa Fe. We desperately want to support our families, friends and neighbors at school sporting events, but have a difficult time affording such an outing because of the high costs of entry.
Many parents have to pick and choose which games they will attend in support of their own children because it is too costly to attend them all. To enter a football or basketball game for myself and my children, I have to pay no less than $20, not to mention the amount spent at the concession stand.
I did some research comparing costs of entry to games around the state to those of Santa Fe Public Schools and discovered that Santa Fe charges admission prices to its sporting events that are more than or equal to the prices charged at the Isotopes Park, The University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University!
The disappointing fact that we must face as a community is that our bleachers for home games are filled more by the fans of our opponents than our own parents, students and community.
Without a doubt, our youth who have worked hard at practice throughout the year training to represent our community within the state deserve our support. The athletes and coaches at all of our middle and high schools have done their jobs.
Now it’s time for us, as a community, to do ours and come out and support the Capital High Jaguars, Santa Fe High Demons, Alameda Eagles, Capshaw Falcons and DeVargas Conquerers!
In an effort to help the community cheer on our Santa Fe public school teams as they embark on their 2007-2008 seasons, I offered a challenge to Superintendent Leslie Carpenter at our board meeting last Tuesday. The challenge was to establish a standard price for all sporting events throughout Santa Fe, so that these events would be accessible to all members of our community.
I would like to see a standard price across the board of $1 per ticket. I am disappointed to report that I feel my challenge has fallen into the “black hole” of things to hopefully get done this year by administration.
It’s time for us to stop saying that we are going to do something about supporting our student athletes and time to actually take action to help show our support.
I’m asking the Santa Fe community to let Superintendent Carpenter know that Santa Fe wants the SFPS to meet the challenge that I posed on Tuesday during the 2007-2008 season by e-mailing her directly at lcarpenter@sfps.info.
Angélica Ruiz is a member of the Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education.
