Reply to required "dues" for MCPS sports team?

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "required "dues" for MCPS sports team?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]This is football, I'm guessing?

Our school did this for years and it was a lovely part of the team culture. Part of what made it lovely was that we had wonderful team parents who took care to make their communications thoughtful and inclusive, urging those who could to contribute more and donate enough to cover a teammate's costs, and reassuring others that everyone was invited to the meals regardless of their ability to pay. It worked because football rosters are so big, and there were enough parents who were able and inclined to be generous that everyone was covered. And the team parents made sure to be discrete about who was paying what.

On the other hand, i encountered something similar when my daughter was on cheer -- and it was a small team where lots of "extras" were expected. At that time I was simply unable to pay the additional fees, and was frustrated that, as with OP's letter, either my daughter or I were expected to contact the coach and tell her that we couldn't afford to contribute. It was humiliating, and needlessly so.* And yeah it absolutely sucked for my daughter to skip the team meal because we couldn't pay for chipotle just then. She used to go and pretend she wasn't hungry.

** She did talk to the coach and say we couldn't afford the fees, and the coach was apparently very chill about it -- which my daughter took to mean that it was fine that she skipped the pre-game meals, not that her meals might be covered. Which... again, was humiliating and totally sucked for her.

It's really vital that team parents don't presume that everyone can afford even "reasonable" costs. (If you don't have the money, it really doesn't matter how "reasonable" it is. When you have zero in the bank, $100 is just as impossible as $10,000!) This is one of the reasons teams fundraise.

And yeah if you're broke you pack a lunch -- if you're lucky -- while others eat whatever they eat. We always managed groceries, but food insecurity is a thing?

Y'all know this, right? 
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics