Pay-To-Play policy has been introduced in my home county.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 5:01pm

The situation unfolding within the Harford County Public School system is absolutely sickening. I've just found out today that they are instituting a new pay-to-play policy in which any student wishing to participate in the drama productions will have to pay a $100 fee, which will then fund the swimming program. This is outrageous, and I applaud those protesting today. I promised myself that I would stand up and take action in the face of injustice. I've included my Facebook post here at the bottom as well. If his resonates at all with you, please share it. Spread the word. I want to try to get as many people involved with the Broadway community on board as possible. It's a long read, but I looked up all of the email addresses of the school board, and here is the letter I sent:

Dear Ms. Reynolds and the Harford County Board of Education,

Unfortunately, this is a letter that I wish that I didn't have to write, however, in light of recent events I feel absolutely compelled to reach out to all of you and address what I consider to be an egregious mistake perpetrated by the Board of Education. However, this is not the fault of an entity, this is the fault solely of the individuals responsible for the clear lack of understanding concerning the vote to have students pay to participate in drama programs at Harford County Public Schools. I am of course referring to all of you, and I implore you, please do not let this become your legacy. The job of an educator should be to create equal chances for students, not to become a symbol of exclusion.

My name is Brandon. I was born and raised in Bel Air, Maryland, and I had the honor of being educated through the Harford County Public School system. As I write this email, I have to admit, an intense passion not only for the arts, but also for the students who will suffer the consequences of this awful decision, ultimately is guiding these words. I have walked in their shoes, and I am a direct product of the programs that allowed me to flourish in the school system. Currently, I'm living in Los Angeles, California. The fact that this news has reached me across the country should alone prove to you that this is not merely a local issue, but part of a larger conversation about the value of arts in schools.

My most cherished memories, the people and experiences that have helped to make me who I am today, all stemmed from my involvement within the drama programs at both C. Milton Wright high school, and Southampton Middle School. My family has never been wealthy. My parents worked extraordinarily hard to raise three children, and to provide the best upbringing for us despite the monotone hardships of a lower-middle class life. Had this new policy been in place, I would have been robbed of those memories. My parents would not have been able to afford for me to participate in both shows each year, let alone one.

To have the students that do not play sports have to fund the sports programs makes absolutely no sense. These students are not benefitting from the sports programs in any way. It is not enriching their lives. The logic behind this decision is honestly baffling. As a consumer, you would be outraged at the audacity of a company that forces you to support a company's extracurricular program, even though you are taking no part in it. It is very much the same for drama students. Increase the cost to participate in sports for the sports players if a cost must be increased at all. As educators, you should know of the price paid by Britain for imposing a higher tea tax upon the citizens of the United States without proper representation. Fundamentally, this is very similar in concept. Those just trying to find a place within their school to call home are now being forced out due to the perceived tyranny of your school board.

In order for me to properly explain to you what an impact these programs have had on my life, I believe that I must first provide a little context as to what my life has become. Through the drama program, I met the greatest friends that I could have ever asked for. Their idea of a party was hosting a murder mystery event, which in retrospect was much different than throwing a wild house party with three kegs. They were responsible, kind, self-aware, and most importantly, accepting. No matter what walk of life a student came from, they always had a home within the drama department. In terms of Rudolph, it was essentially a home for misfit toys. But everyone fit in, even if they were ostracized everywhere else throughout the school. After high school, I went on to major in Theatre Studies at Pace University, focusing on Acting and Directing. Our master's program was the famous Actor's Studio, in which we also hosted Inside the Actor's Studio, hosted by James Lipton. From here, I went on to manage multiple restaurants, including a restaurant at Lincoln Center in New York City, which is essentially a hub of the arts. At this cafe, I captained various events for the New York Film Festival, including hosting and putting together events for the likes of Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, the President of Ireland, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and many more. After moving on from there, I built and managed the wine and dinner program for the Broadway revival of Cabaret at Studio 54, working with the likes of Sam Mendes, the director of James Bond, and actors Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams. Currently, I'm living in Los Angeles, working at a film and television company. My journey from the Harford County Public School system led me to having my own office inside of a Broadway Theatre, and eventually to Hollywood. The program had a major impact on my life, and I want it to be able to do the same for countless more students, to whom I wish even more success than I've achieved.

One of the larger issues at play here is the allocation of funds. As I understand it, the money used from the pay-to-play drama programs will be used to support the HCPS swimming program. The fact that you do not see why this is an issue astounds me. When I was growing up, there were countless rumblings about the fact that the sports programs were always valued much higher over the creative outlets. Football field maintenance was routinely implemented, while the stage collected dust. As students, we felt that our voice wasn't being heard. We felt under appreciated, as if what we were doing was of no significance to anyone but ourselves. But we didn't mind. We were happy being around other individuals that truly cared for us, supported us, and above all, accepted us. The amount of talent that passed through that stage was staggering, even if it largely went unnoticed. However, we noticed it. And we'll carry those experiences with us for the rest of our lives.

Worst of all, the programs that these drama students will be funding also contain the students most likely to bully them. This may seem like a drastic statement, but I assure you that it is based off of my own personal experience. By the experiences of my friends that were too afraid to embrace who they were out of fear of being bullied. Every time that I was referred to as a faggot in school, it was from a sport's player. Every time that I was physically assaulted in school, it was from a sports player. However, every time one of these incidents happened, I was comforted by a drama student. Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with students that play sports whatsoever. It would be foolish, however, to pretend that this sort of thing doesn't exist within the sport's culture. By having the drama program fund the sport's programs, you are spitting in the face of every student that has ever been attacked merely for wanting a place to feel safe. You are denying them of that space, and that to me, is an egregious error. It is the worst error of all.

Again, I implore you, if not for the students, think about your own legacy. This vote will not go over quietly. Those with a voice will shout until they are hoarse. Politics always come into play when considering positions like this, but I assure you, there are those that will work tirelessly to ensure that an injustice like this is corrected. I have no doubt that in the end, it eventually will be corrected. How do you want to be remembered? As the side that exacerbated the issue, or as the side that put an end to it?

Thank you for your time. I respect the choice that you now have to make. Please let it be the right one.

Best,

Brandon

 

https://www.facebook.com/brandinian/posts/10153510140021721

Updated On: 6/28/16 at 05:01 PM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 5:11pm

I feel like this post doesn't really tell the whole story. From this article: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/aegis/ph-ag-school-budget-round2-0615-20160611-story.html

 

" The Harford County Board of Education got a standing ovation from an overflow crowd Monday night after its unanimous approval of using more than $552,000 in the school system's fund balance to save swimming and to keep its three pools operating for the next year.

[...]

Harford County Public Schools officials proposed closing the pools and eliminating interscholastic swimming, in which 315 out of more than 37,500 HCPS students participate, as part of a series of measures proposed to balance the operating budget for fiscal 2017. As part of saving the swimming program, the school board also voted to increase the pay to play participation fee from $50 per sport, per athlete to $100. The board also voted to include those participating in drama programs to be among those students required to pay $100 to participate in an activity."

So all athletes are now required to pay $100 per sport as well. This isn't like drama students are footing the bill to keep swimming alive. Swimming pools are incredibly expensive to maintain, and swimming is at the very bottom of the totem pole of sports. Keeping these pools open will, I assume, allow swimming programs for the entire community to remain alive and active. At that level, swimming moves beyond sport to a necessary life skill.

Wouldn't fees from drama often go into some sort of general activity fund anyway?

[MinnieFay]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 5:13pm

Jeez... I don't know who's more longwinded --- you, or that Hamilton cancellation line girl!! 

Injustices aside, I stopped reading at paragraph 3.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 5:24pm

givesmevoice said: "I feel like this post doesn't really tell the whole story. From this article: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/aegis/ph-ag-school-budget-round2-0615-20160611-story.html

 

" The Harford County Board of Education got a standing ovation from an overflow crowd Monday night after its unanimous approval of using more than $552,000 in the school system's fund balance to save swimming and to keep its three pools operating for the next year.

[...]

Harford County Public Schools officials proposed closing the pools and eliminating interscholastic swimming, in which 315 out of more than 37,500 HCPS students participate, as part of a series of measures proposed to balance the operating budget for fiscal 2017. As part of saving the swimming program, the school board also voted to increase the pay to play participation fee from $50 per sport, per athlete to $100. The board also voted to include those participating in drama programs to be among those students required to pay $100 to participate in an activity."

So all athletes are now required to pay $100 per sport as well. This isn't like drama students are footing the bill to keep swimming alive. Swimming pools are incredibly expensive to maintain, and swimming is at the very bottom of the totem pole of sports. Keeping these pools open will, I assume, allow swimming programs for the entire community to remain alive and active. At that level, swimming moves beyond sport to a necessary life skill.

Wouldn't fees from drama often go into some sort of general activity fund anyway?

 

"

I should have made something a little bit more clear. The participation fee for the drama program was not in the original budget. The original budget included the cancelation of the swim program in order to save money, but this was overturned because of the protests by the swim club. They then reinstated the swim program and created an amendment so that the drama clubs would now be charged in order to foot the bill to support the existence of the swim club. It's estimated that the drama program costs the county $50,000.00, whereas the swim program costs the county $500,000.00 a year.

This is one of the biggest issues. This fee did not exist until it was implemented to be able to afford to fund the swim program. This is again placing the significance of sports over art. I believe that the article doesn't give the correct impression. 

The fees from the drama productions DO NOT GO towards the drama productions. They go to benefit the swim program. These pools are not open to the entirety of the public. Growing up in these schools, I didn't have access to the pools. Of course, I would have access had I paid for it.

My problem is that this program could be free if not for the large salaries of the board members, among the other issues.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 5:25pm

MinnieFay said: "Jeez... I don't know who's more longwinded --- you, or that Hamilton cancellation line girl!! 

Injustices aside, I stopped reading at paragraph 3.

 

"

I warned it was a long read. Not sure how you're expecting me to respond to this comment. Thanks for reading the first three paragraphs, I suppose?

[SueBee06]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 6:05pm

My problem is that this program could be free if not for the large salaries of the board members, among the other issues.

 

"

I did a little digging. Actually, the board members are not paid. They get a $300 travel/expense allowance per month and that's it. Yes, I am a budget nerd and actually dove into the detail pages of their budget. I get your concern on the rest, I do, but I think making sure facts are correct especially on an issue like this is very important.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 6:11pm

SueBee, did you check out the budget proposal for 2017? I could be mistaken, but it seemed to me when reading the budget last night that I saw 500k that was allotted to their salaries. Could you shed any light on that? Did you see anything out of the ordinary in the budget?

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 6:28pm

I fail to see how this is relevant to Broadway. 

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 6:31pm

Liza's Headband said: "I fail to see how this is relevant to Broadway. 

 

"

I guess that you should probably look a little bit harder then.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 6:35pm

As terrible as this is, it's quite prevalent and has been so since the 2008 recession. This county is not the only one to institute such a policy. Hundreds of thousands of school districts have done the same over the last eight years, and typically include "pay-for-play" for both sports and the arts.

[SueBee06]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 6:36pm

You have to dig pretty deep to analyze the detail because they break it down in multiple ways. Salaries that fall under the board combine their secretary/assistant ($50,387) as well as internal legal ($211,996) and auditing staff ($151,793) which is why it looks so large. That's all in Section 11 of the budget. I didn't take a close look at the full budget (my specialty is definitely not school districts) so can't tell you overall whether anything is odd. It was more to satisfy my own curiosity because in my teeny tiny town where I grew up, the school board was definitely unpaid.

[GoblinKing2]

Posted: 6/28/16 at 7:13pm

At the risk of sounding like a grouchy old man, but welcome to the new reality.  At $100 you're getting off easy.  It cost me over $300 a year 5 years ago to keep my daughter in the high school show choir (I live in Ohio).  And that was cheap compared to if your kid played football.  When the states cut funding to the schools and property tax levies fail... This is what happens.  It looks like the OP's district made the mistake of actually saying what the fees were going to subsidize.   Ostensibly your fees are supporting the activity your kid is in, but in reality your fees are covering general budget shortfalls, regardless of department...