The Grafton School Committee voted to let the Grafton Boosters Club run a one-year advertising pilot at Grafton High School athletic facilities to generate recurring revenue for school athletics.

The committee approved a motion to permit advertising in the stadium and on fields under a pilot contract that would run approximately August to August. The program will be administered by the Boosters with the school committee or its designee keeping final approval authority over advertisers and ad content.

The Boosters’ new president, Keith Jensen, presented the proposal and described it as “flexible” — meaning the committee would set the term, which advertisers could start or end midterm with committee approval, and that the committee would have authority to remove ads it found objectionable. Jensen said the club’s goal was “conservative, $10,000 annually” with an aspirational target of $20,000 for the first year to help offset athletic fees and other costs for student athletes.

Committee members who spoke in favor said the program offered recurring revenue rather than the one-time money typical of scoreboard sponsorships. Member Laura Austin said she was “very firmly against athletic fees” and welcomed the potential for sponsorships to reduce charges to families. Members asked about field placement; Jensen suggested starting with the stadium and the upper turf and possibly expanding to softball and baseball fields later. The proposal would exclude certain categories of advertisers, including liquor, cannabis and political campaigns.

The committee moved and seconded the motion and approved it by voice vote. The motion authorizes the pilot for an initial one-year term with school committee oversight of ad acceptance and the right to terminate individual ads if needed.

The committee did not adopt an explicit revenue allocation plan at the meeting; Jensen said the Boosters would partner with district staff (identified in the discussion as Ashley) and the committee to determine how advertising proceeds would be used, and emphasized a preference to direct funds toward athletics and to avoid charging athletic fees.

The committee and Boosters agreed to prepare a list of pre‑approved advertisers for the initial sell‑period (likely June–July) and to revisit the program after the pilot. The Boosters indicated they would handle signage production and sales, and that a local marketing partner (a recent college graduate) would support marketing and installation.

Votes at a glance: the motion to permit advertising for one year passed by voice vote; committee members present voted “aye.” No roll‑call tally was recorded in the transcript.

The pilot is intended to begin in August and run through the following August, subject to final contracting and operational details to be worked out with district staff.