Thanks to a community member who actually reads the STAR (not passing judgement here), we received this clipping. The Sun Prairie STAR recently announced a softball clinic to be held at the Patrick Marsh Middle School Gym on Saturday January 12, 2013. The instructors are reported to be the owner of "On The Rise" Fastpitch and SPHS Class of 2005 graduate (and former professional baseball player) Kevyn Feiner.There will be three sessions for kids in grades 3-8, with a cost of $50-60 per child per session.
Questions to be answered
Oh so very many questions! We thought sure that district administration had learned their lessons from the summer camp fiasco. Perhaps not. So let's go back down the same line of questioning again.
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| OTR's website listing |
- Is this a non-profit? Or is someone(s) hiding behind the old "It's for the [softball] kids" mantra?
- Who approved this reservation (who ordered the Code Red?)
- Will the group be charged for the rental of school facilities as per policy KG?
- How much revenue will be generated?
- Where will the money be going?
Don't we have a policy in place for this?
Sure....and it says:
All organizations other than those who qualify under subs. B.2.a. [non-profits are fee exempt during the school year, when students are in attendance, from 1/r hr after school until 9:00 pm] must pay a rental fee for the use of school facilities as outlined more fully herein...
-----Procedure KG-R
This is from the SPASD's Facility Use Calendar
Lets do some math!
According to the fee schedule (KG-E), renting the middle school gym costs $38/hour.
$38.00/hr x 8 hrs = $304
or roughly equivalent to less than 7 registrant fees
If there are 50 registrants for each of the three sessions, the revenue generate would be $8500.
The facility use fee would translate to just 3.6% of the revenue. Isn't that a mere pittance to pay for facilities one does not have?
According to On the Rise's (OTR) website, it looks like they charge roughly $320/hr for instruction. So, for 8 hours, OTR earns a cool $2560 or this "camp". We're pretty sure that OTR is not a non-profit entity. We're not sure what Kevyn Feiner will be paid for his services, but again, we're fairly confident that he is not a non-profit.
Even if we pay Mr. Feiner the same as OTR ($2,560)...nice for a day's work!....AND the facility use fe is paid (which we're not sure is happening) the total "costs" are $5,424. With revenues of $8500, SOMEONE is making $3,000 on this deal. Who is it?
For further information:
Policy KG, Publc Use of School Facilities
KG-E Facility Use Fee Schedule
Procedure KG-R, Use of School Facilities
The Bottom Line
At the very heart of this issue is that we have an Athletics and Activities Director who has expressed significant concern...publicly...that his budget just cannot cover the needs of the programs. The logical answer would be that any of these events which are not billed per policy KG is tantamount to taking revenues out of the district. These revenues could be used to offset/supplant the Athletics budget, or even to help build a fund for Ashley Field improvements or other similar projects.
So, hopefully, the district is back following policy KG. If not, why not?
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