The fee schedule for sports includes:
$40 for high school sportsBand activities will cost students $40.
$20 for middle school sports
$5 for intramural sports
Student activity fees are expected to generate $50,000 according to Item #17 on the Budget Reductions Concepts for 2013-14
Students will also pay $25 more to park next year when the parking fee increases to $75 a year.
These are on top of the various Blue Devil Sports groups, parent ads for yearbooks, Blue Devil gear, individual activity funds raiders, etc.
ReplyDeleteWe tried to get the project scaled back, but we had to have an eight lane swimming pool and an auxiliary gym, to name a few. The sports building is humongous, but we were told that it is all part of a 21st century education.
ReplyDelete11:23 PM, you might be paying those fees, but we're ALL stuck paying for the renovation. And it is not over. Our municipal taxes went up, so now the Turf Board and Commissioners have their hearts set on using the unassigned funds for that all mighty plastic grass.
Elaine
Elaine, it is not over. The 2nd bond is coming in a few months !
ReplyDeleteI'm aware, 7:33 AM. Raising fees isn't going to help much. The grievance, the second bond, Timmy's annual raise, Jan's bonus. It is going to cost us dearly.
ReplyDeleteElaine
The strapped residents will have less money to support all the kids' fundraisers, you know, all those fundraising ca,pains we are getting hit up for all of the time.
ReplyDeleteLets take a close look at the 2013-2014 budget. Methinks there is some skullduggery hereabouts.
ReplyDeleteAll of these fees, kids bringing supplies from home, parents paying for this and that is futile!
ReplyDeleteThe only way to move the needle is for the SB to whack 30-50% of the staff off the payroll!
Let's give the teachers union a haircut that they'll never forget!
An interesting quote from book available in the link below on collective bargaining:
ReplyDeleteDonald Wheaton: “I would encourage other school boards to take an honest look at what is in the best interest of the kids and not what’s easy and expedient. You’re there for children. If you’re there for any other reason, you don’t belong there.”
http://www.mackinac.org/8258
"A Collective Bargaining Primer"
Collective Bargaining has created the grievance problem the district is engaged in now and the ongoing pension crisis.
Want to give the teachers a "haircut"... start with eliminating that.
Textbooks should be paid for by parents, that is $500-$900 per year for high school books based upon course selection.
ReplyDeleteIn addition the district is teaching Linear Algebra to seven seniors. Mrs Posti called it a capstone course for seven seniors. Why are we employing a teacher for a second semester college course? Seriously. folks this is a grade 14 course in a K-12 high school. The expense of salary, benefits, and facilities here belongs to the parents of the seven students taking the course.It is not the responsibility of Mount Lebanon residents to pay for college courses.
I talked to a member of my college fraternity about his linear algebra course. He said, "We have been in the course for six weeks and covered 36 pages. I have yet to see a number, the course is all in letters."
ReplyDeleteI wonder which of our permanent substitutes is smart enough to teach a math course using letters in place of numbers.
A question for some of our legal beagles out there.
ReplyDeleteCan a school district selectively impose fees on one group of users while selectively allowing another group to use the same facility for free?
Wouldn't some anti-discrimination statute apply?
Specially, the district (a government entity) is charging students and only students $75 to park in a lot that virtually anyone else may use for free.
Furthermore, the parking lots are constructed using taxpayer money.
It would appear student parking fees would violate Policy AC - Nondiscrimination.
ReplyDeleteThe fees are being imposed strictly on the basis of age, Specifically, people of school age. Perhaps the students should appeal to the ACLU to represent them.
What an educational experience that would be!
The board ignores Policy when it is convenient.
ReplyDelete9:34, your age discrimination idea is pure baloney. The fees are paid by the parents, not the kids. Get over your parking fee fetish and pay for your kid to park. Or, are you a teacher who is afraid you are next?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter who pays the fee, it's charged only to one very narrow and specific group and that's discrimination,plain and simple.
ReplyDeleteBut as 5:20 so accurately points out - the board ignores policies when it suits them.
The teachers will file a grievance if the board tries.
8:21 if $75 means so little to you, why don't you pay it for me?
ReplyDeleteYou see the income from student parking that you find it inconsequential, means so much to the board that they saw a need to raise it by 50% this year.
When they raise it by 50% In the next year or two will it become important to you?