Those old enough my remember those adds for Certs candy/breathmint (the only mint with Retsyn®). What? The only one with retsyn!? We must have it. Except retsyn was the food additive equivalent of smoke and mirrors. One of the greatest advertising coups of all time. They literally made something from nothing.
There's a lot of smoke and mirrors associated with the Sound of Sun Prairie (SOSP) too. Except we believe there's something behind this one. There's simply too much hand waving and cries of , "It's a great program for the kids and the community".
- SOSP is a school sponsored activity.
- It's a summer school option (except not available through the on-line registration).
- The district receives between $300 and $400K of state aid for the summer school attendance.
- We're just not certain exactly how much of the detail has been shared with DPI.
- It's one of those things where you wonder if the aid would be there if the right questions were asked.
- We pay the leaders a stipend.
- The band boosters are believed to also financially award the leaders.
- Kids are required to pay a hefty fee ...to the band boosters...not to the district.
- Yet they use our fields and facilities free of charge.
- Isn't summer school supposed to be at no charge to students?
- Then why do they have to pay an enormous fee?
- Will the SOSP open its books for inspection to the district (we seriously doubt it)
- Where does all this money go?
And if we are now (in theory) charging coaches running summer athletic camps and using fields/facilities...
...why aren't we charging SOSP?We still have a lot of questions...
...and we think answers are in order.
As we've said before...SOSP IS a great opportunity for kids. But that does not relive them of their responsibility to pay for the use of facilities.
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