Arlington proposing to close county gymnastics program

[Anonymous]

You can ALWAYS tell , where they don't have their own children in these programs. It's ALWAYS easier to cut something that, doesn't AFFECT your Own child.

[Anonymous]

It’s very confusing that severance notices were sent when this wasn’t even get approved by the board. Looks like the county manager decided just to make a unilateral decision. And I do agree with a previous poster who said you can always tell when the people making decisions are far removed from those who are actually impacted.

[Anonymous]

Even if the board does the right thing and scraps this poorly conceived plan, I wonder if they will lose coaches anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can ALWAYS tell , where they don't have their own children in these programs. It's ALWAYS easier to cut something that, doesn't AFFECT your Own child.

Of course we all react when thing affect our own children. People should be more capable of realizing things may be disappointing for themselves and their children, and also make sense in the bigger picture or be something that needs to happen for the greater good. This chip is missing in many an Arlington parent however and what leads to such horrible and toxic school boundary arguments.

In any case, I really do hope the outcome of this is Arlington requires parents of kid on any kind of competitive, non-recreational team being run out of the County to pay full cost. And they should be transparent to everyone what that full cost is.

[Anonymous]

Do we know is APS pays for the use of Barcroft? Since APS thinks it's fine to not have gymnastics equipment at one of their high schools, they sent the Wakefield athletes to Barcroft for practice. Does APS pay a fee for that? They should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can ALWAYS tell , where they don't have their own children in these programs. It's ALWAYS easier to cut something that, doesn't AFFECT your Own child.

Of course we all react when thing affect our own children. People should be more capable of realizing things may be disappointing for themselves and their children, and also make sense in the bigger picture or be something that needs to happen for the greater good. This chip is missing in many an Arlington parent however and what leads to such horrible and toxic school boundary arguments.

In any case, I really do hope the outcome of this is Arlington requires parents of kid on any kind of competitive, non-recreational team being run out of the County to pay full cost. And they should be transparent to everyone what that full cost is.

Competitive parents are happy to pay for 100% cost recovery although we have no idea what that looks like as we havent been provided the data yet.

For what it is worst we have offered to purchase equipment and have been rejected by the county. We do pay for coach training, clinics, clothing, uniforms, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can ALWAYS tell , where they don't have their own children in these programs. It's ALWAYS easier to cut something that, doesn't AFFECT your Own child.

Of course we all react when thing affect our own children. People should be more capable of realizing things may be disappointing for themselves and their children, and also make sense in the bigger picture or be something that needs to happen for the greater good. This chip is missing in many an Arlington parent however and what leads to such horrible and toxic school boundary arguments.

In any case, I really do hope the outcome of this is Arlington requires parents of kid on any kind of competitive, non-recreational team being run out of the County to pay full cost. And they should be transparent to everyone what that full cost is.

Competitive parents are happy to pay for 100% cost recovery although we have no idea what that looks like as we havent been provided the data yet.

For what it is worst we have offered to purchase equipment and have been rejected by the county. We do pay for coach training, clinics, clothing, uniforms, etc.

We'll see if you are happy about it when you see the cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can ALWAYS tell , where they don't have their own children in these programs. It's ALWAYS easier to cut something that, doesn't AFFECT your Own child.

Of course we all react when thing affect our own children. People should be more capable of realizing things may be disappointing for themselves and their children, and also make sense in the bigger picture or be something that needs to happen for the greater good. This chip is missing in many an Arlington parent however and what leads to such horrible and toxic school boundary arguments.

In any case, I really do hope the outcome of this is Arlington requires parents of kid on any kind of competitive, non-recreational team being run out of the County to pay full cost. And they should be transparent to everyone what that full cost is.

Competitive parents are happy to pay for 100% cost recovery although we have no idea what that looks like as we havent been provided the data yet.

For what it is worst we have offered to purchase equipment and have been rejected by the county. We do pay for coach training, clinics, clothing, uniforms, etc.

We'll see if you are happy about it when you see the cost.

I'm an observer in this - my kids each took a beginner class years ago and nothing else.

It's weird that the employees were given notice and this is already in motion without real engagement with the gymnastics community. It wouldn't be hard to present real numbers and how much it would actually cost per gymnast to keep the program running. It feels like there is some other plan in the background for the facility that they don't want to talk about yet.

[Anonymous]

It's weird that the employees were given notice and this is already in motion without real engagement with the gymnastics community. It wouldn't be hard to present real numbers and how much it would actually cost per gymnast to keep the program running. It feels like there is some other plan in the background for the facility that they don't want to talk about yet.

Right. Gymnastics also isn’t the only thing in Barcroft. So Barcroft has to be closed for at least a year and we know employees at least for gymnastics were asked to sign something. Barcroft also has facilities staff of course, haven’t been able to confirm yet what if anything they were given. They could of course be asked to fulfill other open positions, assuming they have transportation to those neighborhoods.

So is there something about Barcroft that is costing way too much to just operate in general that is unknown? It doesn’t take a year to move the equipment out of the court side. And there’s the workout room, the dance/fitness class room, the areas down the hallway behind the front desk (don’t know how else to describe those lol) which are used for other programs. A lot of those programs seem to have relatively lower input costs.

This is besides the argument that gymnastics was profitable for many years, and different changes that could be done to make it so again.

Like if you put out a blind item that parks and rec would have to close a facility next year and asked us to guess what it was, Barcroft would be near the bottom of my guesses. Will the playgrounds still be maintained? I assume the fields would be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do we know is APS pays for the use of Barcroft? Since APS thinks it's fine to not have gymnastics equipment at one of their high schools, they sent the Wakefield athletes to Barcroft for practice. Does APS pay a fee for that? They should.

What difference would that make for you as the taxpayer? If anything the marginal cost of them using Barcroft should be less. It’s roughly four months of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can ALWAYS tell , where they don't have their own children in these programs. It's ALWAYS easier to cut something that, doesn't AFFECT your Own child.

Of course we all react when thing affect our own children. People should be more capable of realizing things may be disappointing for themselves and their children, and also make sense in the bigger picture or be something that needs to happen for the greater good. This chip is missing in many an Arlington parent however and what leads to such horrible and toxic school boundary arguments.

In any case, I really do hope the outcome of this is Arlington requires parents of kid on any kind of competitive, non-recreational team being run out of the County to pay full cost. And they should be transparent to everyone what that full cost is.

Competitive parents are happy to pay for 100% cost recovery although we have no idea what that looks like as we havent been provided the data yet.

For what it is worst we have offered to purchase equipment and have been rejected by the county. We do pay for coach training, clinics, clothing, uniforms, etc.

We'll see if you are happy about it when you see the cost.

DP here - Why keep jabbing? You obviously aren't a parent of an athlete on the team. If the parents are saying they are willing to pay, there is no reason for you to still be nasty to them. Maybe some will find it cost prohibitive and others won't. You don't know and gain nothing by trying to fight with them. There is a huge community benefit beyond team and people feel passionate about trying to save Barcroft. The county board members are saying they want options and seem to be listening to the community. It seems like this was a major error on the part of the CM and it hurt a lot of people uneccessarily.

[Anonymous]

Even if they decided to convert the basketball side back to it's old format, that doesn't require closing the gym. The original gym side was open during construction. There was an unapproved plan for this facility that wasn't announced and they are using the gym costs as an excuse.

[Anonymous]

They are posting a tax increase that on average will be $645 more in yearly property tax. That's to make up for empty offices.
They are boosting services for the poors, increaseing spending on watering the trees they plant and shooting deer that might eat them, and cutting things they think users can pay for elsewhere like "competitive gymnastics." Read the statements.
This is indeed the Peoples Republic of Arlington with the county staff run amok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can ALWAYS tell , where they don't have their own children in these programs. It's ALWAYS easier to cut something that, doesn't AFFECT your Own child.

Of course we all react when thing affect our own children. People should be more capable of realizing things may be disappointing for themselves and their children, and also make sense in the bigger picture or be something that needs to happen for the greater good. This chip is missing in many an Arlington parent however and what leads to such horrible and toxic school boundary arguments.

In any case, I really do hope the outcome of this is Arlington requires parents of kid on any kind of competitive, non-recreational team being run out of the County to pay full cost. And they should be transparent to everyone what that full cost is.

Competitive parents are happy to pay for 100% cost recovery although we have no idea what that looks like as we havent been provided the data yet.

For what it is worst we have offered to purchase equipment and have been rejected by the county. We do pay for coach training, clinics, clothing, uniforms, etc.

We'll see if you are happy about it when you see the cost.

Well we already pay the county close to 2million in fees alone. We used to be at 118% cost recovery. Unclear what we are now since we havent been given numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can ALWAYS tell , where they don't have their own children in these programs. It's ALWAYS easier to cut something that, doesn't AFFECT your Own child.

Of course we all react when thing affect our own children. People should be more capable of realizing things may be disappointing for themselves and their children, and also make sense in the bigger picture or be something that needs to happen for the greater good. This chip is missing in many an Arlington parent however and what leads to such horrible and toxic school boundary arguments.

In any case, I really do hope the outcome of this is Arlington requires parents of kid on any kind of competitive, non-recreational team being run out of the County to pay full cost. And they should be transparent to everyone what that full cost is.

Competitive parents are happy to pay for 100% cost recovery although we have no idea what that looks like as we havent been provided the data yet.

For what it is worst we have offered to purchase equipment and have been rejected by the county. We do pay for coach training, clinics, clothing, uniforms, etc.

We'll see if you are happy about it when you see the cost.

Well we already pay the county close to 2million in fees alone. We used to be at 118% cost recovery. Unclear what we are now since we havent been given numbers.

Actually apologies I thought the numbers I saw wrre only one side. But we do pay close to 1M in competitive fees