CHERRY TWP — In an effort to boost attendance at football and basketball games, the Moniteau School Board will let students attend for free after showing a district-issued ID card.

Superintendent George Svolos said the district hopes the change will bring more parents out to games and encourage more students to participate in sports.

Moniteau will become the second school district in the county to admit its students into its football and basketball games without charge.

Currently, Butler is the only other district to allow its students into sporting events for free. However, Butler does not issue student IDs.

Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District is in the process of establishing an ID system.

While Seneca Valley School District did not return a call, all other districts in the county — South Butler, Slippery Rock, Karns City, Freeport and Mars — continue to charge for admission.

Slippery Rock and Mars have student ID cards, but do not require their use to attend sporting events.

The new program at Moniteau was recommended by the board’s extracurricular committee: board members George Pry, Melissa DeMatteis and Joann Duke; Svolos; junior-senior high school Principal Maynard Harvey and athletic director Jim Metz.

“We hope this will bring people to see the good at the school,” said Pry. “Maybe some younger kids will see the older kids play and that will inspire them to participate in extracurricular events when they are older. We’re hoping it will increase participation and school pride in general.”

Svolos said, “It will give more students an opportunity to participate in being a fan and supporting their classmates and expressing school spirit.”

DeMatteis said, “We are hoping that parents will become more involved also so we may get more revenue with parents attending.”

Previously, student admission was $2 per student.

The board said it hoped the new program will support more frequent family attendance at football and girls and boys basketball games.

Svolos said, “It took months to research this. There was a lot of information gathering. We based our decision on all the facts and figures.”

Jim Cochran, director of technology for Moniteau, said laminated identification cards will be provided by Lifetouch School Portraits. The company already provides the district’s student photos which are part of Moniteau’s student information system.

Other admission fees already in place for basketball games, football games and other school events will continue.

The new IDs also will be a way to assess how many students from other school districts attend the Moniteau games.

Duke said, “When you take the total student admission fees and deduct for the other schools, there are very few Moniteau students paying to go to the games. Perhaps if students don’t have to pay, we will have a much larger turnout.”

The committee expects with more students coming to games that concession sales will increase. The athletic booster groups, the Moniteau Quarterback Club and the Moniteau Basketball Booster Association, use concession funds to support student activities.

The district plans several methods to get the word out about the free admission.

“We have our open house the day before school starts,” said Pry. “The goal is to have everything in place and ready that day.”

Svolos said, “We will have something on our marquee, we’ll send something home and we will have something on the website.

“We will be reviewing it and looking at it as we go along. It’s a pilot program. There will be growing pains.”

DeMatteis said, “I’d like to see students coming to extracurricular activities on a Friday night because it means they are together sharing something positive with others in the community.”

“We want to do whatever we can to promote the school and get community involvement,” Pry said.