I agree with JHB. It's bad enough that if isn't sports, we've been paying for a while now and now that it's sports- boy can you hear them complaining now.
I don't think any child should have to pay to participate in extracurricular activities. It's partly because of this that my husband is more involved in PTA now. I guess this one hit him where it hurt.
It is happening here but my son isn't anywhere near High school yet so I'm not sure what the cost is but it sure doesn't send a good message when we're trying to address the issue of childhood obesity.
I didn't see the Today Show (probably wouldn't have listened- can't stand Mr. Lauder) still getting kids out the door and little ones dressed.
At our school, we don't even offer football to our HS, the cost of insurance etc is just ridiculous! We do offer volleyball and basketball and forgive me I'm not sure what the fees are but there are fees.
Now I ran into a Mom this summer selling candy at the store so her two daughters could be cheerleaders. She needed to raise $1000 PER CHILD! I apologized that I could afford $5 in candy...she did laugh .
My question is why is this so expensive? Where is all this money going?
While one part of me agrees, the other wonders why some activities do cost and others don't. My daughter was in band last year and it cost a fortune for supplies and instrument rentals.
Years ago my sister was in cheerleading and flag corp. Our family spent hundreds of dollards on uniforms and supplies and camps for her.
Don't get me wrong - I don't want ANY child to pay for any school related activity. But I've wondered for years about the message we send our kids that if they are into atheletics, the cost and training are covered by the school; but if their interest is in another area - like band or orchestra - then the parent needs to cover the cost.
Once again, let me be clear: I am not saying I'm in favor of "pay to play". There's no easy answer.
When I saw that this morning I almost fell off my chair! How can schools do that when we all pay so much in taxes?
What upsets me the most is that even after you pay, and some school pay a lot, you're child is not guaranteed to play. If I'm expected to pay, my child better play!
Our school district just started doing it this year. It is $50 for each sport you participate in, and it's for HS only. There was some discussion about this especially because we are a low income district, but I haven't heard of too many kids not playing because of it. It sucks though. Once my kids reach HS, I think we will have to cut a few sports.
