Reply to Arlington proposing to close county gymnastics program

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The county should at least calculate the cost of the program (including things like utilities and maintenance for the facility, but not building it as that is more akin to turf fields at this point) and ask the families if they can lay the higher fees. The slash and burn budgeting is going to bite them, and they better not tear down or otherwise use a facility purpose-built for gymnastics for storage or just close it. That would be a waste of already-spent money![/quote]
The county also needs to hold itself accountable for fully staffing and utilizing the space if the expectation is to recover fees.  Private gyms do things like host birthday parties for a fee to bring in revenues.  If the county doesn't have qualified coaches for more classes, they need to do things to fill the facility that don't require highly qualified coaches (e.g., 4 yo birthday parties that can be led by someone who is good with kids, but not a gymnastics coach).[/quote]

The County is supposed to turn into a birthday party provider to subsidize kids doing gymnastics?  Whut.[/quote]

As a taxpayer who pays out the nose for private programs due to insane Parks and Rec waitlists, I’m having a very hard time understanding why I need to subsidize some kids doing gymnastics while paying out the nose for my kids.

Gymnastics parents - you will have a much easier time with getting support from the community if you offer to take on more of the costs of running your program. Offer to pay space fees - not the whole of it but what outside groups would pay. Offer to form a booster club to help support meet fees and coach salaries and provide scholarships to kids who can’t pay. Your costs will go up, but by definition the demand will go down and maybe you’ll reach a place where you can pay enough coaches to meet it.

The idea that a handful of some of the richest people in the country should get a bonanza  because they were quick with the signup just blows my mind. [/quote]
There was zero engagement with the gymnastics community or any suggestion that there needed to be a fee increase.  That was never proposed.  They just announced a plan to shut the program down in three months with zero warning.

If Arlington wants to require fee recovery for its sports programs, it should do so across the board, including for AAC, basketball and field sports.  All those rec basketball kids can help subsidize our schools.[/quote]

Again…WATCH BOARD MEETING.

The head guy explained that on this coming Tuesday  they will be proposing fee and tax rate increases across the board.  Including likely this one.   That is how this works.  The board advertises and proposes revenue and fee increases every year and there is time to comment and then they vote on it.  You just clearly don’t normally pay attention because it isn’t affecting your life which is fine.

[b]The faux outrage no one consulted you[/b].  Now they are consulting you.   Educate yourselves before you just go straight to freaking the F out.[/quote] Nevermind the faux outrage on this thread that somehow gymnastics parents were supposed to have already offered to pay more?!?  This came out of nowhere.  No one knew it was even being considered or that there was a problem.  And still no one knows if there's a real problem.  Just like when APS proposed closing Nottingham it use it as a swing space, only to backtrack and decide they don't need a swing space and their proposal made no sense.[/quote]

So they are supposed to clear all this with you, the interested stakeholders, privately before they propose this to the broader community for comment.  Hmm.  That seems like that would mostly be in your own interest.

Maybe the County has no basis for this proposal and it will all fall apart upon further inspection or maybe you all will bully them into submission like you do APS even if it’s a sound idea that most people actually agree with but they are not as shrill as you are.  But the point is the process just freaking started.   [/quote]

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