Some parents are angry about a new policy requiring high school students to pay a $100 fee to participate in school athletics in Norwalk.

Officials at Norwalk High School say the athletic pay-to-play fee was put into the budget by the former superintendent.

The purpose was to create equity between athletes, band members and students in school musicals who already pay much larger fees to participate in those programs.

The new fee will be used to help pay for the insurance required for after-school athletics, which costs more than $100,000.

Parents of students participating in band say the new fee is only fair. Other parents warn that some student athletes who cannot afford the fee won't have anything constructive to do after school.

Board Chairperson Mike Lyons says he wants equity between sports, music and the arts. He's open to hearing other ways of doing that before the board of education has to sign off on the new budget in the next two months.