There’s only one week left for Commodore fans to ensure the Lafayette County School District has a specialty car tag.

So far 218 people have ordered and paid for a tag in an effort to create the specialty license plate in the state. Three hundred tags need to be preordered and paid for so the state will produce them. Once they do, the plate has the same guidelines as the other specialty tags: they cost $31 with $24 coming right back to the school district to support technology needs and playground equipment.

Organizer and parent Pam Swain said 82 more tags need to be ordered by Oct. 9 through any school office. Next year the process will roll over to the normal car tag renewal office. She said the car tag will not only build up school pride, but also help provide much-needed funds to the district.

“The first collected funds will go to build an upper elementary playground,” Swain said. “A fund to build the playground was established last year and this will add to it. The LUES kids don’t currently have anywhere to let out their excess energy and play during recess. The lower elementary playground is tailored more towards the smaller kids and doesn’t really fit well with our bigger kids as they age up into the fourth and fifth grades. This will give them somewhere to play rather than simply standing around.”

After the playground needs are met, future funds will go toward technology for all in kindergarten through 12th grade.

“Technology is our biggest need as a school system and is a growing need that only gets bigger year by year,” Swain said. “This will help tremendously as our administrators try to stay on top of the needs of the schools as they grow in terms of technology.”

Swain and other organizers are hopeful the goal will be met next week.

“Our parents, teachers and staff, as well as alumni of LCSD love our school system, and I think they will pull through here in our last days,” she said. “But I have to remind everyone to get them turned in as soon as possible. We are getting close but we are certainly not there. If all the applications that have been handed out and said they were going to commit were to be turned in we will reach our goal.”

Swain said both the county and city school systems having car tags instills pride in the community and shows visitors education is a top priority and it says something that this year the effort is successful for both districts.

“We are hearing so much excitement from the parents and administrators alike,” she said. “Our community embraces our school systems with great pride and they love this new opportunity to show their ’Dores pride. Our schools have attempted to reach this goal before with little success. We are hearing from our ’Dores that this time we are all going to come together to make it happen.”

For more information or an application, contact pam@oxfordms.com or visit www.gocommodores.org.