At the Smithfield Town Council meeting on Nov. 14th, three Smithfield public schools requested a total of $3,000 from the Town to fund different projects. The council approved spending the money but didn’t divide up the funds as the schools had requested. Two received more money, one received less.
South Smithfield and West Smithfield Elementary Schools had each requested $500 from the Town of Smithfield to help them buy new playground equipment. Smithfield Selma High had requested $2,000 for the school robotics club. The robotics club had also received a $2,000 donation last year from the Town.
Town Councilman Marlon Lee asked if anyone from the Town had followed up with Smithfield Selma High to see how the $2,000 was spent with the robotics club. When no one responded, Councilman Lee said he believed other clubs at SSS would like to have money and questioned if those clubs knew about the town earmarking $5,000 each school year to donate to local schools.
Councilman Roger Wood replied that other clubs need to make a presentation for the funds like the robotics team.
Lee then made a motion to give South Smithfield and West Smithfield Elementary $1,000 each – $500 each more than requested – for the playground equipment, and $1,000 to the SSS robotics club, $1,000 less than their request.
The donations were approved in a 5-to-1 vote, with Mayor Pro Tem Emery Ashley opposing the funding changes.
The 550 students at South Smithfield Elementary use playground equipment that is 18 years old. Parts of the playground are in terrible shape according to Principal Laura Makey. New equipment will cost $15,000 to $20,000. So far about $6,000 has been raised by the PTA for new equipment.
West Smithfield Elementary plans to use their funds to buy soccer nets, soccer balls, hula-hoops, jump ropes and other small items for students to use during recess time.
The SSS Robotics club will use their donation to pay for registration fees to a competition, support the team and provide educational resources for the organization.
