Arlington proposing to close county gymnastics program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a wake up call. The long tenure for appointed County Manager is symptomatic of the elected Board's near total delegation of everything to unelected County Staff and their agendas. There is no accountability.

This is how a County Manager form of government works. The person is supposed to run the government. That's how the whole thing is set up.

I can't even tell if you're blaming the County Board or the County Manger.

There is accountability. It's called election day.

Board elections don't focus on details. It's the Board enabling an activist manager and staff with no electoral visibility or accountability. Hey everyone who voted for the incumbent board voted for getting rid of gymnastics right? No?

[Anonymous]

PG county also has a a DPR team at Sportsplex.

[Anonymous]

Stafford is the only other one that could be considered northern VA. The classes offered by Fairfax, Prince William, and Loudoun are on set up and take down basis in multi use areas.

Then there’s Sportsplax in PG county which is operated by parks and rec as far as the program. But obviously the building administration and initial capital was different from Barcroft. But my impression of strictly how the gymnastics program is run it seems very similar to Arlington.

Going farther north there are some others in Maryland I’m pretty sure. But I can’t name them off the top of my head.

Capital posts all their team tuition online, you can look it up. Arlington is well in range and more expensive in some cases. Tuition wise. Keep in mind these private teams have competitive “assessment fees” during the season of 1-2K total in addition to tuition. This covers coaching fees for meets and such. The team parent associations for Arlington also cover these fees, but I don’t know what the current fee level is there, and how it compares. From the county accounting perspective, they probably need to keep things separate but maybe more fees could be assessed at the county level to make up a salary gap, for instance. Again we don’t have any hard numbers (on the Arlington side) so it’s hard to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a wake up call. The long tenure for appointed County Manager is symptomatic of the elected Board's near total delegation of everything to unelected County Staff and their agendas. There is no accountability.

This is how a County Manager form of government works. The person is supposed to run the government. That's how the whole thing is set up.

I can't even tell if you're blaming the County Board or the County Manger.

There is accountability. It's called election day.

Board elections don't focus on details. It's the Board enabling an activist manager and staff with no electoral visibility or accountability. Hey everyone who voted for the incumbent board voted for getting rid of gymnastics right? No?

What on earth are you talking about. It’s “activist” to propose eliminating a gymnastics program?

This happens every year. They propose cuts and people don’t like some of them and the board will vote. Same as schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stafford is the only other one that could be considered northern VA. The classes offered by Fairfax, Prince William, and Loudoun are on set up and take down basis in multi use areas.

Then there’s Sportsplax in PG county which is operated by parks and rec as far as the program. But obviously the building administration and initial capital was different from Barcroft. But my impression of strictly how the gymnastics program is run it seems very similar to Arlington.

Going farther north there are some others in Maryland I’m pretty sure. But I can’t name them off the top of my head.

Capital posts all their team tuition online, you can look it up. Arlington is well in range and more expensive in some cases. Tuition wise. Keep in mind these private teams have competitive “assessment fees” during the season of 1-2K total in addition to tuition. This covers coaching fees for meets and such. The team parent associations for Arlington also cover these fees, but I don’t know what the current fee level is there, and how it compares. From the county accounting perspective, they probably need to keep things separate but maybe more fees could be assessed at the county level to make up a salary gap, for instance. Again we don’t have any hard numbers (on the Arlington side) so it’s hard to say.

So this is not a standard offering for a local government is the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a wake up call. The long tenure for appointed County Manager is symptomatic of the elected Board's near total delegation of everything to unelected County Staff and their agendas. There is no accountability.

This is how a County Manager form of government works. The person is supposed to run the government. That's how the whole thing is set up.

I can't even tell if you're blaming the County Board or the County Manger.

There is accountability. It's called election day.

Board elections don't focus on details. It's the Board enabling an activist manager and staff with no electoral visibility or accountability. Hey everyone who voted for the incumbent board voted for getting rid of gymnastics right? No?

What on earth are you talking about. It’s “activist” to propose eliminating a gymnastics program?

This happens every year. They propose cuts and people don’t like some of them and the board will vote. Same as schools.

The Board does not even just vote. They will actively reject reductions and make adds to the budget. That’s what the next 2 months are for. This PP sounds crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stafford is the only other one that could be considered northern VA. The classes offered by Fairfax, Prince William, and Loudoun are on set up and take down basis in multi use areas.

Then there’s Sportsplax in PG county which is operated by parks and rec as far as the program. But obviously the building administration and initial capital was different from Barcroft. But my impression of strictly how the gymnastics program is run it seems very similar to Arlington.

Going farther north there are some others in Maryland I’m pretty sure. But I can’t name them off the top of my head.

Capital posts all their team tuition online, you can look it up. Arlington is well in range and more expensive in some cases. Tuition wise. Keep in mind these private teams have competitive “assessment fees” during the season of 1-2K total in addition to tuition. This covers coaching fees for meets and such. The team parent associations for Arlington also cover these fees, but I don’t know what the current fee level is there, and how it compares. From the county accounting perspective, they probably need to keep things separate but maybe more fees could be assessed at the county level to make up a salary gap, for instance. Again we don’t have any hard numbers (on the Arlington side) so it’s hard to say.

So this is not a standard offering for a local government is the answer.

I’m not sure it’s been brought up but the gymnastics team has non-Arlington members and they aren’t asked to pay any more. They should pay more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a wake up call. The long tenure for appointed County Manager is symptomatic of the elected Board's near total delegation of everything to unelected County Staff and their agendas. There is no accountability.

This is how a County Manager form of government works. The person is supposed to run the government. That's how the whole thing is set up.

I can't even tell if you're blaming the County Board or the County Manger.

There is accountability. It's called election day.

Board elections don't focus on details. It's the Board enabling an activist manager and staff with no electoral visibility or accountability. Hey everyone who voted for the incumbent board voted for getting rid of gymnastics right? No?

What on earth are you talking about. It’s “activist” to propose eliminating a gymnastics program?

This happens every year. They propose cuts and people don’t like some of them and the board will vote. Same as schools.

No it's activist to prioritize tree watering and deer shooting to protect tree expenditures over things. And yes they actively shield services for the needy at the expense on non needy. Tax and spend and let the richuns pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stafford is the only other one that could be considered northern VA. The classes offered by Fairfax, Prince William, and Loudoun are on set up and take down basis in multi use areas.

Then there’s Sportsplax in PG county which is operated by parks and rec as far as the program. But obviously the building administration and initial capital was different from Barcroft. But my impression of strictly how the gymnastics program is run it seems very similar to Arlington.

Going farther north there are some others in Maryland I’m pretty sure. But I can’t name them off the top of my head.

Capital posts all their team tuition online, you can look it up. Arlington is well in range and more expensive in some cases. Tuition wise. Keep in mind these private teams have competitive “assessment fees” during the season of 1-2K total in addition to tuition. This covers coaching fees for meets and such. The team parent associations for Arlington also cover these fees, but I don’t know what the current fee level is there, and how it compares. From the county accounting perspective, they probably need to keep things separate but maybe more fees could be assessed at the county level to make up a salary gap, for instance. Again we don’t have any hard numbers (on the Arlington side) so it’s hard to say.

So this is not a standard offering for a local government is the answer.

I’m not sure it’s been brought up but the gymnastics team has non-Arlington members and they aren’t asked to pay any more. They should pay more.

I was wondering about this. Our DD goes to a dance studio outside the county and Bancroft is often mentioned there as a gymnastics option since there are not a lot of other good options near there. I know they charge more for regular gymnastics classes if you aren't a county resident, but I do think it's ridiculous if they are bringing in members of the competition team from outside the county and not charging more. It's a county amenity.

This is a good example of why it doesn't really make sense for a county to run a program quite like this. I don't get why we can't just do a more basic gymnastics program like other counties do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stafford is the only other one that could be considered northern VA. The classes offered by Fairfax, Prince William, and Loudoun are on set up and take down basis in multi use areas.

Then there’s Sportsplax in PG county which is operated by parks and rec as far as the program. But obviously the building administration and initial capital was different from Barcroft. But my impression of strictly how the gymnastics program is run it seems very similar to Arlington.

Going farther north there are some others in Maryland I’m pretty sure. But I can’t name them off the top of my head.

Capital posts all their team tuition online, you can look it up. Arlington is well in range and more expensive in some cases. Tuition wise. Keep in mind these private teams have competitive “assessment fees” during the season of 1-2K total in addition to tuition. This covers coaching fees for meets and such. The team parent associations for Arlington also cover these fees, but I don’t know what the current fee level is there, and how it compares. From the county accounting perspective, they probably need to keep things separate but maybe more fees could be assessed at the county level to make up a salary gap, for instance. Again we don’t have any hard numbers (on the Arlington side) so it’s hard to say.

So this is not a standard offering for a local government is the answer.

I’m not sure it’s been brought up but the gymnastics team has non-Arlington members and they aren’t asked to pay any more. They should pay more.

I'm pretty sure non-residents do pay more. If not, the county should fix that. They set the fees, not the gymnastics parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stafford is the only other one that could be considered northern VA. The classes offered by Fairfax, Prince William, and Loudoun are on set up and take down basis in multi use areas.

Then there’s Sportsplax in PG county which is operated by parks and rec as far as the program. But obviously the building administration and initial capital was different from Barcroft. But my impression of strictly how the gymnastics program is run it seems very similar to Arlington.

Going farther north there are some others in Maryland I’m pretty sure. But I can’t name them off the top of my head.

Capital posts all their team tuition online, you can look it up. Arlington is well in range and more expensive in some cases. Tuition wise. Keep in mind these private teams have competitive “assessment fees” during the season of 1-2K total in addition to tuition. This covers coaching fees for meets and such. The team parent associations for Arlington also cover these fees, but I don’t know what the current fee level is there, and how it compares. From the county accounting perspective, they probably need to keep things separate but maybe more fees could be assessed at the county level to make up a salary gap, for instance. Again we don’t have any hard numbers (on the Arlington side) so it’s hard to say.

So this is not a standard offering for a local government is the answer.

Nature centers, a bike trail, and Long Bridge also aren't standard county offerings for pretty much anywhere. Arlington's an affluent community that has nice things.

[Anonymous]

Non residents do pay more. You can see the tuition costs at this link. Each level has two numbers divided with a slash. The higher number to the right of the slash is the tuition for non residents.

Got to page 2 and click on Aerials and/or Tigers 2025-2026. You’ll see all the teams offered and the yearly tuition. Aerials nonresident ranges from $3150 a year for preteam to $7690 for the highest levels. Tigers $2960 to $8760. Resident is lower for every level.

https://vaarlingtonweb.myvscloud.com/webtrac/web/search.html?Action=Start&SubAction=&_csrf_token=Nb6C0J0R026H262B323I2M625O5W5E581I5H3U6C4S0T6S5C53521D5X5X6J6J1K5T4F4D4Y6Y565T4O4U086T4S545005735Z504E005H434Z4G6Z5R4N5G4W715Q5Z5F&age=10&location=BSFC&beginmonth=&primarycode=&keyword=&keywordoption=Match+One&dayoption=Any&showwithavailable=No&display=Detail&search=yes&page=2&module=ar&multiselectlist_value=

These tuition numbers are in line with area private gyms, but obviously most private gyms don’t have fee waivers.

If my link doesn’t work just open the registration portal, select Barcroft as a location, put in 10 for an age, and find it on the second page.

[Anonymous]

A lot of YMCAs don’t have gymnastics teams either but Arlington Y does at Woodmont. People were motivated to get these programs going decades ago and community interest has sustained them and grown them over time. Presumably over some of this time, there was a greater proportion of families with children in the area than there is now and with Arlington having greater density it makes sense that programs started in Arlington.

The county faces a number of changes since then which aren’t likely to go away any time soon, I’ll concede. However, it seems like there is still plenty of interest in the gymnastics program and without any transparency, it’s confusing how the situation could have become so dire that the only solution is a full closure of Barcroft.

If times are leaner then maybe they can explore going back to the original space. I don’t think it’s out of line for people to question the full closure of Barcroft in a matter of months without a presentation of any alternatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a wake up call. The long tenure for appointed County Manager is symptomatic of the elected Board's near total delegation of everything to unelected County Staff and their agendas. There is no accountability.

This is how a County Manager form of government works. The person is supposed to run the government. That's how the whole thing is set up.

I can't even tell if you're blaming the County Board or the County Manger.

There is accountability. It's called election day.

Board elections don't focus on details. It's the Board enabling an activist manager and staff with no electoral visibility or accountability. Hey everyone who voted for the incumbent board voted for getting rid of gymnastics right? No?

What on earth are you talking about. It’s “activist” to propose eliminating a gymnastics program?

This happens every year. They propose cuts and people don’t like some of them and the board will vote. Same as schools.

No it's activist to prioritize tree watering and deer shooting to protect tree expenditures over things. And yes they actively shield services for the needy at the expense on non needy. Tax and spend and let the richuns pay.

The county board gives guidance. The manager doesn’t just come up with this in a vacuum. You think that is what happens? Talk to your elected officials if you object to actively shielding services for the needy. The board say…out loud and repeatedly and often…this is what they want.

It’s pretty clear some of you never pay attention to county politics or your local government which is fine a lot of people don’t. But read ArlNow or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Non residents do pay more. You can see the tuition costs at this link. Each level has two numbers divided with a slash. The higher number to the right of the slash is the tuition for non residents.

Got to page 2 and click on Aerials and/or Tigers 2025-2026. You’ll see all the teams offered and the yearly tuition. Aerials nonresident ranges from $3150 a year for preteam to $7690 for the highest levels. Tigers $2960 to $8760. Resident is lower for every level.

https://vaarlingtonweb.myvscloud.com/webtrac/web/search.html?Action=Start&SubAction=&_csrf_token=Nb6C0J0R026H262B323I2M625O5W5E581I5H3U6C4S0T6S5C53521D5X5X6J6J1K5T4F4D4Y6Y565T4O4U086T4S545005735Z504E005H434Z4G6Z5R4N5G4W715Q5Z5F&age=10&location=BSFC&beginmonth=&primarycode=&keyword=&keywordoption=Match+One&dayoption=Any&showwithavailable=No&display=Detail&search=yes&page=2&module=ar&multiselectlist_value=

These tuition numbers are in line with area private gyms, but obviously most private gyms don’t have fee waivers.

If my link doesn’t work just open the registration portal, select Barcroft as a location, put in 10 for an age, and find it on the second page.

Thanks for info.