July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
SA: Wait and see on equipment $
Company backs out on promised money
BERNE — The South Adams School Corporation is waiting to see if it receives the remaining $60,000 for cardiovascular and weight training equipment South Adams High School received in August 2002 from a Utah-based foundation.
The National School Fitness Foundation promised to reimburse the school for the approximately $150,000 spent on the equipment, including six cardiovascular machines, 24 strength training stations, a scale, a body fat counter, a blood pressure monitor, a computer and a fax machine. In exchange, the school provides the foundation with student fitness data to be used in a national study.
The foundation said it would reimburse districts a portion of the cost each month by raising money from private donors and government grants that support fighting obesity, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.
But last month the charity told the 600 schools with the equipment it was indefinitely postponing the repayments because it hasn’t raised enough money.
“(The foundation) has paid faithfully for 21 months. They have 15 months left and did not make a ($4,000) payment in May,” South Adams superintendent Connie Bailey said Wednesday afternoon.
She added that South Adams School Board members have been very impressed with the use of the equipment by the public and students.
“We’re going to wait a little bit and see if the board decides to keep (the equipment) or let it go back,” Bailey said.
Officials in several states are scrutinizing the program, saying the company used money from newly enlisted schools — not grants or donations — to make token reimbursements to schools that signed up early.
The foundation has done nothing wrong and has suffered from an inability to raise money, which has been exacerbated by recent negative publicity, foundation spokesman Cris Rees said.
The foundation has repaid about $38 million dollars to schools since it was started in 2000, Rees said. But only about $6 million of what it has paid back came from donations, with the rest coming from the money schools paid for the equipment, he said.[[In-content Ad]]
The National School Fitness Foundation promised to reimburse the school for the approximately $150,000 spent on the equipment, including six cardiovascular machines, 24 strength training stations, a scale, a body fat counter, a blood pressure monitor, a computer and a fax machine. In exchange, the school provides the foundation with student fitness data to be used in a national study.
The foundation said it would reimburse districts a portion of the cost each month by raising money from private donors and government grants that support fighting obesity, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.
But last month the charity told the 600 schools with the equipment it was indefinitely postponing the repayments because it hasn’t raised enough money.
“(The foundation) has paid faithfully for 21 months. They have 15 months left and did not make a ($4,000) payment in May,” South Adams superintendent Connie Bailey said Wednesday afternoon.
She added that South Adams School Board members have been very impressed with the use of the equipment by the public and students.
“We’re going to wait a little bit and see if the board decides to keep (the equipment) or let it go back,” Bailey said.
Officials in several states are scrutinizing the program, saying the company used money from newly enlisted schools — not grants or donations — to make token reimbursements to schools that signed up early.
The foundation has done nothing wrong and has suffered from an inability to raise money, which has been exacerbated by recent negative publicity, foundation spokesman Cris Rees said.
The foundation has repaid about $38 million dollars to schools since it was started in 2000, Rees said. But only about $6 million of what it has paid back came from donations, with the rest coming from the money schools paid for the equipment, he said.[[In-content Ad]]
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