60 MILLION DOLLAR HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM???

[ghuns]

Let's be accurate. Northside Gym is at a Jr. High.

Yeah, it's on the campus of a middle school.

It was built in the 50s, at that location, because there was nowhere else to put it. They wanted a BIG gym. At the time, the biggest HS gym in the country with 8200 seats. New Castle bumped them from the top spot a few years later. It would still be #2, but they did some renovations and reduced the seating capacity to a measly 7400. You don't built that for 7th and 8th graders.

I'm not even sure Northside Middle School existed when the gym was built.

 

[Leo]

You never dated a cheerleader, did you Leo?

In fact, I did date a cheer leader, but not in high school. We were about 35 at the time. Bad deal. I was a mature adult, she lived in memories of her princess days.

 

[ghuns]

I was a mature adult, she lived in memories of her princess days.

Pfft, so?

Did she still fit into her old uniform?

 

[Leo]

It's a political process. Organize and try to chamge it.

You are right, there is a process to change things. I have missed plenty of work to state my opinion at school board meetings on multiple occasions, in three states. The rooms seemed to stacked about 50 to one with people who were on school payroll. I have written plenty of letters to my representatives about various projects. You win some, you loose some.

I do continue to write and call my congressmen to support 2nd Amendment rights, even spent 3 weeks making a phone appointment with Diane Fienstein. After my thoughtful and carefully worded statement, her only words were "are you through?". When I said yes ma'am, she hung up without a further word. . It got to the point where the Clinton White house would not even return a form letter, only a receipt. I have carried stacks of postcards around for people to sign requesting congressmen to vote for or against specific bills for the preservation of gun rights. Often paying the postage out of my own pocket. If the 20,000 gun owners in Indiana would do the same, I think we would have far more political power. I do not know how to "energize the troops" much past that. I lack the skill set, economic resources and physical health to take it to a nationally recognized level. I gladly support those who do, Like GOA and the NRA.


I really agree with your assessment of the money vs. education value. Education effectiveness cannot be measured by the amount of money a school corporation can waste.

About every 5 years you hear about some of the poorest parishes of Louisiana having top performing students with per pupil spending rates at or close to the bottom of the barrel.

 

[Leo]

[

 

[Mark-DuCo]

Football in East Texas is all they care about, I toured every town and city there is over there this spring and some schools had entire sports complexes that were larger then the schools themselves. The stadiums in Melissa and Farmersville are just stupid, McKinney is the city of all city's so I am sure they feel out done and want a bigger stadium.

The tax payers voted, its their money...

They say the Texas schools breed champions and I would say that is true.

Yeah, just look at Johnny Manziel lol

 

[femurphy77]

It is Texas. You must have never read much about how big high school football is in Texas. Not saying it is right, it just is what it is.

Football is a Religion in Texas.

 

[Dirtebiker]

Why no corporate academic sponsorship? If it were me, the businesses would be required to spend as much on academics as sports, to get naming rights.

great idea! Why have the school boards not considered this?

 

[Dirtebiker]

Back in the day, the soccer team was kicked off (get it?) of the football field. Said we might damage it.

Personally, I'm all for HS sports. As a "pay to play" extra-curricular option. Not taxpayer funded. I'd even go so far as to say that every donated dollar spent on sports must be matched by a donated dollar spent on academics.

when my kids were in school, Center Grove wanted (and got) to be the first high school in the state to get artificial turf on the football field.
They justified spending $500,000 for the turf saying that gym classes, band, and other sports and extracurricular clubs would be able to use it. As soon as it was installed they said that ONLY the football team could use the turf because otherwise it would wear out too quickly.
The field came with a 7 year guarantee, but was "projected" to last up to 15 years. Of course, 7 years later they were getting financing lined up to redo the whole thing again.

 

[Bapak2ja]

. . . In a world where the good ole USA is behind so many other countrys in academics, why do we continually send the message to our children that sports is the most important thing at a school. . . . Our society as a whole has lost focus.

It's for the CHILDREN!! Never mind the national debt, the veterans, the unemployed, the military and it's disabled vets, the borders, . . ."

 

[eldirector]

great idea! Why have the school boards not considered this?

For most, they don't really NEED to. They can get what they want simply be taking from the taxpayers.

Some schools do, though. Just read an article this week about a school out west that has a science program funded by a pharmaceutical company.

 

[halfmileharry]

Sports programs fund academics to a large degree.
Sadly academics are a money losing program.
And yes, even small schools benefit financially from sports

 

[eldirector]

Sports programs fund academics to a large degree.
Sadly academics are a money losing program.
And yes, even small schools benefit financially from sports

Got a source for that?

In my research, the fast majority comes from State funds (property taxes), then Other property taxes (a referendum) , then the Feds. "Other Income", like ticket sales from sports, is in the small single digits (as a percent of the overall total revenue).

 

[dshaf]

Kids can excel in sports and get full ride scholarships to college. In most cases, academic excellence does not produce as many full scholarships. Too me this is the opposite as should be.

 

[hoosierdoc]

when my kids were in school, Center Grove wanted (and got) to be the first high school in the state to get artificial turf on the football field.
They justified spending $500,000 for the turf saying that gym classes, band, and other sports and extracurricular clubs would be able to use it. As soon as it was installed they said that ONLY the football team could use the turf because otherwise it would wear out too quickly.
The field came with a 7 year guarantee, but was "projected" to last up to 15 years. Of course, 7 years later they were getting financing lined up to redo the whole thing again.

Are you still in the area? Know anything of the $10m expansion for a gym thing?

 

[halfmileharry]

Got a source for that?

In my research, the fast majority comes from State funds (property taxes), then Other property taxes (a referendum) , then the Feds. "Other Income", like ticket sales from sports, is in the small single digits (as a percent of the overall total revenue).

I have a 15yr old in school and the fund raising locally is non stop. I have been told it pays for all things at school the funding doesn't cover including school supplies etc.
Apologies for such a flimsy source. I guess it falls into"2nd hand" information.
The sports programs are a pride and joy for revenue

 

[Dirtebiker]

Are you still in the area? Know anything of the $10m expansion for a gym thing?

Yes, haven't heard much about it lately. You know why the price is 10 million right? Anything over that, the taxpayers get to VOTE for the project. As long as they keep them under 10 (or 11 I think) million, they can do as many projects as they want and we have NO say!
and when was the last time a government project DIDN'T go over budget!?

 

[hoosierdoc]

Right, exactly my point. A lot of my FB contacts were sharing the petition drive and it has its own page. I posted several times asking why we need to sign a petition if they don't need a vote to spend the money. No one ever responded.

Seems very shady and like it will be $9.9m the first year and another $6m the next year to finish it after "oops, we forgot about this part"

guess it's a done deal

http://wishtv.com/2016/01/26/center-grove-high-school-will-get-new-10-million-student-center/

superintendent said recently some varsity sports have had to cancel practice because of bad weather and they had no backup facility to use indoors. Wow. $10m so rain doesn't cancel practice.