North Hills School Board Approves Choral Parents' Request to be Boosters

The board recognized the Choral Parents Association as a booster organization in a unanimous vote Monday.

The recognition allows the group to apply for a Local Options Small Games of Chance license from Allegheny County, which requires that any organization applying for the license be considered a booster, or non-profit, organization. 

The license permits the booster club to legally conduct games such as bingo, 50/50, lottery or anything involving the sale of tickets.

“It gives them a more official mechanism in order to do fundraising for their group,” said Communications Coordinator Tina Vojtko.

“For example, our band will be performing in Chicago, so they’re doing a lot of fundraising for it," she said. "The choir also has some opportunities to travel as well, and this will help offset some of those costs or any other endeavors that they decide to pursue.”

“I think the choral parents have been talking about this for quite some time, and for whatever reason they never got around to doing it,” said board President Edward Wielgus. 

The Choral Parents Association joins a list of organizations that already have obtained booster status. 

“Most of our athletic teams already have them in place,” said Vojtko. “Our Instrumental Parents Association is one of our largest booster organizations. As our choir program continues to grow, certainly I’m sure [it will] grow in numbers as well.”

Also Monday, the board approved the release of money from Allegheny County's Regional Asset District fund to Ross Township. The fund, intended to help pay for an electronic sign, has been untouched for more than seven years and now contains at $3,778.

“That money has been set aside for some time, and my impression is that we don’t really have anything to do with that money,” said Wielgus. “We’ve had this money for quite some time, and Ross Township never addressed it and we’ve held onto it.”

Ross did not receive the money earlier because it did not have the funds available to match the amount needed to build the sign, school officials said.