Gee, I hate to sound like a whiner.  But I just had to vent my opinions about certain TVS school district policies.  Point 1:  I coach my daughters in basketball and have orgainzed summer and spring girls basketball programs.  With 3 kids interested in sports (ages 15, 10, 6) there is a lot of basketball  yet to be played.  When I approached TVS about getting access to the gyms I found that I had to pay a fee even if the team was 100% TVS students.  Supposedly this is to pay for a custodian to be on site.  Well yeah the janitor is on site - they are off mopping the floors, or cleaning.  We see them once when we get in, and once when we leave.  So we are paying for the the janitor to do work that they would ordinarily be doing on second shift anyway!  It's not like someone is coming in from home to let us in.  What a crock! Here we pay taxes to build this new school with the nice gyms and then we have to pay an additional fee to get access to a gym we have already paid for.  

I have talked with other  youth basketball coaches and generally they don't have these types of problems.  In many cases as long as an adult is willing to sign a form saying that they are responsible for any damages, and the kids are from the school district the use of the gym is free.  The second shift custodian lets them in and out and since they are already ready being paid to work there, little additional expense is involved.  Sure you have the expense of the lights, and the wear and tear on the floor etc.  But on the other hand, we pay a lot in taxes and whatever extra expense is incurred is a drop in the bucket as far as the overall school budget.   Sure if kids from outside the district come in, a case could be made that a fee should be charged. However, most of the money to build the new school and gym came from matching funds from Columbus.  So it can be argued that everyone's taxes helped to pay for the school.  

Point 2:  We know what is best.  Well that's kind of a underlying attitude that I get towards my efforts to work the the girls.  TVS does put on a elementary school basketball program.  I'm sure they do a good job and the girls learn a lot.  But if I try to run a seperate basketball program, does that put me at odds with the schools program?  From the reaction that I get, it must.  I approached  the AD about having the girls put on a short exhibition game during the halftime of a girls varsity game.  "No, we already do that with our program."  OK, so these girls are to be punished because they chose to go with my program as opposed the schools?   And that has been the reaction to pretty much all of my efforts from the school personnel that I have dealt with.  Last year, I offered to let the girls practice together so that we could pool resources - no go.  Perhaps this attitude starts at the top with the school board or superintendant.  But we both have the same goal as far as helping the girls become better players - can't we work together instead of being at odds?   I can guarantee that I am going to continue in my efforts to help my kids in sports.  My youngest child is a first grader.  So we can butt heads the next 11 years, or try to work together.  

So I am mystified by the stonewalling encountered when dealing with TVS.  They have good athletic programs and this should compliment the work that they are doing.  If a parent wants to help children - why shut them out, why not encourage them?  Anyway, if you have comments (pro or con) on this - put them in the guestbook or email me.