Fees for everything! (band, etc)

[Anonymous]

School Board is poorly educated and FFX is all blue . . . Shut up and pay up and keep voting blue Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In such a well-funded district where band kids at our HS are required to go door-to-door asking for money from neighbors on Tag Day (and this is the biggest fundraiser, raising something like $20k), why is it that we still have to pay a $50 band fee?? We do not rent an instrument, already supplement with outside lessons, and purchased an overpriced home for this “great” district. Why do I constantly feel nickel and dimed? Anyone else annoyed? What fees are you paying for your kid’s public education?

$50 band fee is nothing. Go ask the Crew team how much they have to pay for Crew participation.

Crew is not a class.

This music fee is essentially FCPS requiring the music students to purchase the physical textbooks for their graded academic music class, as well as paying for the contracts (rights) to use the textbooks required for the curriculum.

Choir, orchestra and guitar pay it too.

Music and art are the ONLY classes in FCPS that require parents to pay between $50.00-$100.00 per class in order for the students to receive the academic textbooks required to take the class.

We paid $45 a semester last year for middle school home ec.

Are they buying the cookbooks?

That is basically what the music fee is for... the textbooks

It’s probably for class supplies, because they use fabric for sewing, food ingredients for cooking, etc.

[Anonymous]

My kids have had to pay for the following classes: home ec, leadership, ceramics, math honor society (which they only did because the math teacher gave extra credit for it), and music.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Art class fee in middle school. FACS class fee. These aren’t even extra curriculars.

Oh come on, the middle school art fee was $10. I was actually surprised it wasn't higher. And if you can't afford it, you don't have to pay it.

And in HS I paid $70-$90 per year in art fees for my kid. Just because I can afford it doesn’t mean I agree with needing to fork over that much for supplies required to complete coursework.

[Anonymous]

My child had fees for theater tech, engineering, and band in middle school.

The band fee was used to pay for concert uniform and to help pay for transportation costs for the Virginia performance assessment. It's probably also used to help keep the band instruments in working order, like the percussion instruments. My kid didn't play percussion, but I'm not going to complain.

For a lot of electives, the fees are used to pay for the supplies.

There are fewer fees nowadays than when I went to school. I remember when kids had to pay fees to take AP exams and the SOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have had to pay for the following classes: home ec, leadership, ceramics, math honor society (which they only did because the math teacher gave extra credit for it), and music.

Math honor society is a club, not a class.

Leadership is not a curriculum class like music home economics and ceramics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For our marching band, fees are $100, and could be more depending on if the child needs marching shoes or an instrument rental.

The money covers the uniform costs, uniform cleanings, two sets of band t-shirts and shorts, band sweatpants, beanie, and two sets of gloves. It also covers music, choreography, fees for competitions, and other expenses to run the program.

Band boosters use funds to transport equipment to competitions (U-Haul trucks), as well as pay for bottled water and snacks during competitions, parties for the kids, banquets and celebrations, senior pictures and banners, scholarships for students, drum major camp for band leaders, insurance to cover any liabilities, and so on.

Believe me, it all starts to add up.

Signed,

A Band Booster Treasurer

That’s not bad. We have to pay for shirts, etc separate and do no competitions. No nothing.

[Anonymous]

Our marching band fee is a lot higher than $100! That sounds like a bargain. It’s technically an “extracurricular activity” at our school, but the band leader makes it seem mandatory. Lots of shade and threats if you don’t want to participate and give up half your summer. Big problem, especially given the fees.

[Anonymous]

Art fee, $25. Chorus, $50.

It literally never crossed my mind to be upset about this. I'm happy to pay for the specialized supplies or resources these teacher need to work with my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Art fee, $25. Chorus, $50.

It literally never crossed my mind to be upset about this. I'm happy to pay for the specialized supplies or resources these teacher need to work with my kids.

+1

This also is not new. I was in middle school and high school in the late 80s to early 90s, and even back then, my parents paid fees for courses I took.

I'm so tired of all these threads about the cost of school supplies and school fees. It is expensive to have kids. Stop complaining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Art fee, $25. Chorus, $50.

It literally never crossed my mind to be upset about this. I'm happy to pay for the specialized supplies or resources these teacher need to work with my kids.

+1

This also is not new. I was in middle school and high school in the late 80s to early 90s, and even back then, my parents paid fees for courses I took.

I'm so tired of all these threads about the cost of school supplies and school fees. It is expensive to have kids. Stop complaining.

Agree. They are upfront that there are fees in certain classes as it is listed in the course catalog. My kids’ STEM Design class is $60, which is very cheap compared to her out of school dance where I have paid $300 just for shoes this summer. Or my kids’ TKD helmet I had to buy for $100. We put money into things we value, and $30 for orchestra seems fine to me. I’m not thrilled to pay, but I’m not was never thrilled to drop a ton of money at Cox Farms in the fall and we do that too.Kids are expensive if you do the things they want to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Art fee, $25. Chorus, $50.

It literally never crossed my mind to be upset about this. I'm happy to pay for the specialized supplies or resources these teacher need to work with my kids.

+1

This also is not new. I was in middle school and high school in the late 80s to early 90s, and even back then, my parents paid fees for courses I took.

I'm so tired of all these threads about the cost of school supplies and school fees. It is expensive to have kids. Stop complaining.

I bet they weren't paying a fortune in property taxes that go up every single year. The money goes to meals, special services, interpreters, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our marching band fee is a lot higher than $100! That sounds like a bargain. It’s technically an “extracurricular activity” at our school, but the band leader makes it seem mandatory. Lots of shade and threats if you don’t want to participate and give up half your summer. Big problem, especially given the fees.

Yeah, at most schools around here, marching band in mandatory if you’re in the advanced band class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Art fee, $25. Chorus, $50.

It literally never crossed my mind to be upset about this. I'm happy to pay for the specialized supplies or resources these teacher need to work with my kids.

+1

This also is not new. I was in middle school and high school in the late 80s to early 90s, and even back then, my parents paid fees for courses I took.

I'm so tired of all these threads about the cost of school supplies and school fees. It is expensive to have kids. Stop complaining.

I bet they weren't paying a fortune in property taxes that go up every single year. The money goes to meals, special services, interpreters, etc.

I promise you, people in the 1980's were complaining about taxes and how they were being spent. None of this is new, none of it. Property taxes existed, they were going up on a regular basis, and people complained about how the money was used. It is an age-old issue.

And yes, parents paid extra for certain activities at school, like band and chorus and art. You are not just paying a teacher to supervise a club after school; you are paying that teacher for the time after school every day, not just one day aweek, and for attending events on the weekends and in the evening. If you are with a program that does any type of travel, you are paying for that teacher's time while traveling and costs. You are also paying for kids who legitimately cannot afford the costs associated with the program, not the parents who are grumbling about having to pay for the costs associated with the program.

I have no problem paying the fees. I don't mind donating to tag day if kids come by my house. I choose not to participate in the extra car washes to send kids to Hawaii to participate in a parade. Hawaii is awesome, love it there, the parade is not that big of a deal, it really isn't an honor, and there is plenty of time for kids to grow up and figure out how to travel to Hawaii for vacation. I understand why they want to go but that really is a luxury, and I don't feel like I need to help pay for that. Maybe something like the Rose Parade that is hard to be invited to participate in and represents a high level of achievement in competitions but not some of the other ones that I have seen.

[Anonymous]

Of course there are fees for band, etc. this is a problem for decades! Nothing new.