We, the Ledyard community members, request the BOE to amend extracurricular policy 6145.1 to permit students residing in Ledyard but not attending Ledyard High School to participate in the Ledyard High School robotics team. 

The robotics team is very small and needs more participants. More participants will enhance the team and a stronger performance in state competition will boost the reputation of our district’s STEM programs. However, the current policy prohibits our own Ledyard children from joining, even though additional participants would not cost the town extra.

Ledyard Public Schools is largely funded by taxpayers in the town and should serve the whole community. The members of the BOE are elected and empowered by the townspeople to make educational policies to benefit all of Ledyard’s children. 

Extending participation of extracurricular activities to more Ledyard children benefits Ledyard school students too, as the added diversity enriches every student’s life. A policy which supports more diversity and inclusion in club memberships would benefit all of the children in Ledyard and can only serve to strengthen our community.