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In exchange for a donation of $250,000 paid over 10 years, Tom Holzer Ford seeks to acquire naming rights of the Northville Public Schools' stadium at Eight Mile and Center roads.
The school board approved a contract Tuesday night authorizing the donation. It awaits approval by the car dealership.
The contract between the district and the dealership about the stadium – which is currently undergoing drastic revamping thanks to a combination of district dollars and fundraising monies raised by the Northville Education Foundation – calls for a lump sum payment of $172,600 in the first year and $8,600 for the nine years following. It is used for several of the district's athletic events including high school football games.
"It is anticipated, but not required, that the District will use the donated funds for improvements to its athletic facility," according to language in the approved contract. The car dealership will not have any say on how the money is used.
Signs would be placed at the north and south ends of the athletic facility and on the front and back of the score board, according to the contract.
In addition, "the donor shall have the option of utilizing LED advertising messaging during all events at the athletic facility." According to the contract, the messages shall be subject to district approval.
The district also agrees to allow the dealership to set up car displays at the facility.
Superintendent Mary Kay Gallagher said the contract presented to the board reflects several back-and-forth drafts reviewed by the dealership's and school district's attorneys.
Editor's Note: A typo in the headline has been corrected.
EBC
7:35 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Headline and story are different. 25K or 250K ??
Anita Bartschat
8:45 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The amount of the contribution is $250,000 so headline should read 250K.
Rebecca Jaskot
9:11 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The stadium could definitely use some upgrades!
Nancy Kelsey
10:19 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Sorry. The headline was a late-night typo that was fixed.
HOLLY HURD
11:32 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
That is a wonderful gift for the community and the stadium
ConcernedParent
4:23 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
While I applaud the contribution of local businesses to our schools, I have to question the way this money will be spent. At a time when state funding to our schools has been cut -- when we are facing elementary class sizes of over 32, when we have laid off teachers, our media specialists, and have technology and infrastructure that is crumbling... it seems wholly irresponsible to devote all of these resources to a sports field. How much of the community will truly benefit from improvements to the stadium?
Boiling
5:19 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
ConcernedParent: Although your comments are well defined, honest, and thoughtful; the contract or endowment probably is defined to a specific cause or purpose, which would probably not allow the money to be spent in any other way. Certainly Tom Holzer Ford wants a big bang for their buck! What can be taken from this is that these specific tasks that this money is earmarked for will not draw money from the School’s Budget, which in turn will free this money up for the classrooms. I’m specifically speaking from a vision of a perfect scenario here. I’d hope that this gesture will influence others to donate funds to further our schools and community.
ConcernedParent
9:32 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I'm not in any way saying that we should discourage the community from giving to our schools. These are hard times, and we need to think creatively about how to bring extra money in. However, I am concerned that we will have a serious perception problem when we try to levy bonds and millages claiming that the district is suffering, when we seem to be giving what money we have to things that (and I know there are people who would disagree with this!) have little value to the actual education of our children.
I know sports are important. But we have elementary class sizes in the 30s! Astroturf and fancy stadiums aren't going to help with that, and I believe may make it harder for us to ask for much needed funds from the community in November.
Tongue_In_Cheek_Northville_Mustang
9:35 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Ok,......is it just me or doesn't anyone else see the conflict of interest going on here. Isn't Tom Holzer Ford located in,.........Novi !!
We better be sure that their check doesn't bounce, read the language of the contract VERY carefully and make sure they do not put Novi Wildcats signs at the Northville Football Stadium.
erbrel
9:59 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Please remember that a great number of Northville Schools students live in Novi. In fact, Thornton Creek Elementary is in Novi.
Sue Nix
9:20 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I believe Tom Holzer also supports our Farmer's Market. Good for us and those who made the deal!
Northville Parent
3:32 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012
Boy, when someone wants something bad enough, money always wins. This whole deal with the new footbal field should have never happened and it all got started because someone wanted the field by the time this season started, so they gave Northville $500,000 to do it as long as it was done for this season. So everyone jumped on it, knowing it would take much more to get it done. Northville did not have the extra money then and they don't have it now and they should have said no to the deal. What goes on in our school classrooms should have been more imporant than if our kids play in some mud. Didn't kill me when I was a kid. By the way, turf is worse on a body than grass. So we are going through all of this so someone's kid can play on turf before they graduate? And now the Northville football field is Tom Holzer Stadium! What's next: going to let them name our schools too?
Scott Craig
2:40 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
As a school board member, I am very appreciative of the support fromHolzer Ford and the Turf Club the enabled us to upgrade the stadium. However it is sadly true that the community seems to lack the political will to address the funding cuts being imposed on the classroom by Lansing. We cut business taxes by $1.5 billion with 2/3 of that coming right out of the K-12 budget. Our.community should be up in arms over what is being done to our schools