Survey your graduates
If the Brainerd School District wants to prepare for a global society, they need to do some research. As a private business owner I cannot survive on business from the local area. I have to use the various technologies and get customers and suppliers from out of our area, our town, our state and our country. Talk to those of us who are small business owners. We don’t have the time to attend your meetings, but could do a survey and perhaps if you surveyed your graduates better, you could get ideas of what they needed.
Where’s Paul?
I’m truly disappointed in the lack of Paul Bunyan everywhere. He used to make a regular appearance throughout town year around for multiple events and festivities. Either he’s sick of being offered meth by our friendly locals or tired of poor customer service. Don’t worry, Paul. Maybe one day Costco will arrive and the people concerned about traffic will build a new bridge for pedestrians and name it after you.
Get real, administrators
I refuse to believe the schools “financial” need to cut more educators until administrators are cut. Too many other schools don’t re-name positions to keep administrators like this one. Other schools cut sports and extra curriculars more to keep classes and teachers who change kids’ lives. Get real, Brainerd administrators.
Clean it up!
Some yards in downtown Merrifield are an embarrassment for their neighbors. Is there no law against all that trash and litter piled and strewn in those yards? Have some pride in your town.
A question
I have a question. If the price of your property goes down significantly, why do you have to pay more in taxes? Just a question.
Blessings to the gracious lady
Words cannot express our thanks and surprise to the gracious lady who learned we were celebrating our 67th wedding anniversary last Thursday and she surprised us by treating us to lunch. Our blessings and thanks to you.
Shame on them
I paid $425 for my daughter to participate in a winter sport at Brainerd School District. I haven’t found a school in the state of Minnesota that even comes close to charging these ridiculous fees. And then to top it all off, they expect all these kids in the sports to go out and fund raise. I’m so tired of hearing ‘It’s about our kids” from the school board and administration because it’s clearly not. I just have to say shame on them for doing this to our kids.
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Comments (16)
Add comment‘It’s about our kids”
NEA union slogan! I wonder how many people are realizing that their property taxes went up more than the school board said it would?
Re: Shame on Them
About four years ago there was a sizeable referendum vote that was voted down. Result: $425 for athletic participation fees in a sport, close to 30 kids per class at the elementary level, higher than that at the secondary level, fewer course choices at the high school level, incessant fund-raising forced on students and the community. Penny-wise and pound foolish. For most with children in school, it would have been much cheaper in the long run to have voted in favor of the referendum. You have a legitimate gripe if you voted in favor of that referendum; if you didn't, oh well.
It has never been about the kids
The school board will always protect the administrators and the administrators will never question the school board. You see, the school board does not want the public to know about the $17,000+ benefit PER YEAR/PER MEMBER they get for serving on the board. The administrators do not want the public to fully understand what type of perks they are stealing from the general public. Never do their cuts affect them. They always take their cuts out on the students and the classroom. The public needs to demand full disclosure on school board benefits and they need to do it now. Their greedy behavior costs the school over 100,000 dollars annually and everyone one of them is doing fine without it. This money could go back to the kids. You know, it is about the kids.
School adminstration is NOT bloated
There really are very few administrators. I find that school detractors routinely discount the size of the Brainerd school district. I think there are an average of 500 kids in every class. I don't believe there is more than one top administrator per 500 kids in any of the schools in the district.
If you look at the responsibility they have, the size of the budget, the sheer number of kids they deal with etc. there's no bloat there in the numbers.
Athletics Cost--School administration IS at fault there
For the athletics mess, though.
I disagree strongly with lakesfan's assertion that we could have changed this with the referendum vote.
The district had a choice in how they wanted to handle the athletics problem. One of those choices was favored by many residents and a sports booster club--cutting back the number of sports offerings by a moderate amount.
The district threw that option out the window, though.
And don't tell me they allowed the public a vote on it--they did NOT.
They had two extreme choices in that vote taking in the district--neither one a middle ground cutting of athletics offered. One cutting way back to just a dozen sports--a severe reduction from current offerings--the other was keeping everything at the very high cost to kids and families that we say today. A cost that the district finally admitted was keeping kids who want to play from being able to afford to.
I did not understand why they refused to take public input on an option that would have cut back some sports and activity offerings but wouldn't have cut them to the bone, like the one cut choice they offered. I know at least one top level administrator had a child in sports that likely would have been cut had that occurred.
It is a huge problem only going to get worse. Numbers going out for sports has gone down. The warrior way assistance has been nice but that is going away within a short time.
A link to the solution that was never considered by the district
See here: http://brainerddispatch.com/stories/011208/new_20080112044.shtml
Note how the following words ring so true given the situation present in warrior athletics today:
"A big difference in philosophy between BLAST and Warrior Way Inc. comes down to fees. Warrior Way Inc. has proposed initially raising activity fees substantially with no family cap to keep all athletics and activities at the high school and middle school levels. Warrior Way Inc. would like to set up grants or scholarships for families who could not afford the fees.....To us it's not feasible to have it all funded with fees. We could see where fees could be raised a reasonable amount, but the proposed fees are too high,Kline said. The Warrior Way has always been to have three-sport athletes. But if it is cost-inhibiting it's not going to be feasible.
.....I think you need to have a fee that all families can afford. Whether you're a professional who makes a high income or just an average Joe making a living, everybody wants the opportunity to participate in sports...but if you make the fees too high, it's going to eliminate some people. And I know they (Warrior Way Inc.) said they would offer grants but they don't know where that money is going to come from. Also, I think some people don't want to come in and ask for money."
I know a number of people tried to get the athletic department and district administration to listen to such reasonable concerns and offer another middle ground option, but again they refused.
Yes, four years ago
the referendum was voted down. Since then, a forced levy was passed for retirement benefits and both levies passed recently knowing that nothing would change as far as classroom size and additional cuts still had to be made to balance the books. I have to ask... What expense(s) has gone up while revenue has gone down the last four years?
The revenue producing sports
continue to support the non-revenue sports. Maybe cuts to the high cost, non-revenue producing sports need to be spun off to local Park & Rec programs. Cuts to physical education, high activity fees for school and non-school sports all have a part in declining participation . Now our leaders declare that our youth are over weight and leading a life style that will contribute to high health costs in the future. What happened to JFK's Presidents Council On Physical Fitness and why has it disappeared from our schools?
$425? No way. Someone's nose is growing.
And all the anti-school nutters gobble it up.
It's a lie, people.
Name the sports program that costs $425 to enroll your child.
Prove it...or it didn't happen.
We're waiting.
Easier to deny than look it up, I guess
I will grant you the school district does a good job of burying the athletics fee schedule.
Can find it here--click on "Warrior Way" links:
http://www.isd181.org/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?section...
Tier 3 level high school sports all cost $425 per kid. That's one sport. Boys and Girls Basketball, Boys and Girls Hockey, Wrestling, Gymnastics, and all of the skiing programs cost that much--per kid, per season.
Baseball, Cross Country, Football, Soccer, Swimming, Cheerleading, volleyball, and softball are a bit cheaper at $350--per kid, per season.
The cheapest high school tier--Golf, Tennis, Track, Dance, and Adaptive floor hockey--is a "bargain" at only $250 per kid, per season.
Add that up. If your boy is in football, basketball and baseball, you'll shell out over 1,000 dollars EACH YEAR for your kid to play sports. They do give you a whopping $100 break if your kid plays all three sports.
If your girl is in volleyball, gymnastics, and softball, it'll be the same amount, over $1,000--for her to take part in sports all year--each year--in the Brainerd School system.
Yes it is that expensive
They did cut back a bit after a year or so when they saw the inevitable happening--declines in participation, including kids who wanted to. And people who were not willing to take ask for help from the warrior way thing--or for whom that assistance was not enough. You have to give up some personal info many might be reluctant to turn over, as the quote I posted from the dispatch article above implies.
They also did institute a total cap on fees which wasn't there in the first place, and changed the fee structure--initially I think most sports were charged the same amount.
And the end of warrior way assistance isn't too far away--with no legislative restoration of funds in sight--looks like legislators think getting home to campaign is more important!
Wow
425$$$
Thats crazy, maybe for hockey since you pay for ice time and equipment, but basketball? OUCH
Wow Cidder, should know before you type, yes your face is red.
WOW Re:
You do not get any equipment for hockey either.
So we complain
about having all these overweight kids yet we charge this much for sports?! This nation really needs to figure out what its priority is. Don't complain about overweight kids and adults and then make sports unaffordable for families. Being active when you are younger usually transfers over to when you are older. We need to make sports and activites more of a priority!
I was wrong and I do find it shocking.
That is an INSANE amount of money. Hockey doesn't surprise me, but basketball>?!>!