A Modest Proposal

[Terri Schehr]

On 12/29/2022 at 12:47 AM, C.Holland said:

Schools are charging as much as they can. You don’t rent one gym, you rent enough rooms as you need according to how many students you have for each gender divided also age by group under and over 18, as well as staff and support staff.  
 

 

It reminds me of this… (I’m just kidding) 

 

[JimF-LowBari]

On 12/29/2022 at 12:47 AM, C.Holland said:

Schools are charging as much as they can. You don’t rent one gym, you rent enough rooms as you need according to how many students you have for each gender divided also age by group under and over 18, as well as staff and support staff.  
 

You are also passed ALL costs of using the facility back onto the renter. School Security, any required school staff to be present, custodian services, heating, cooling, water, etc.  Everything in a school runs via building management system, and thus can be quantified and charged back to the renter. 
 

An open class corps out east here was recently quoted near $3000 for an 8 hour sunday to hold an experience camp. That was for the gym, band room, and cafeteria. Only to be used for space. Not sleeping showering, or staying beyond the 8 hour day. This price was escalated from what they paid only a year ago. 
 

school rooms and fields are rented a la carte.  If fields aren’t already reserved for school sports.  They start at 500 each, and can go as high as 2500 depending on turf, condition, stands, lights, etc. 

people (1) hate school taxes and (2) hate “outsiders” using facilities that should be for their kids. Charge a crapload of money can help keep them calmed down.

Irony as family member retiring from teaching as new contract will gut part of the retirement package. Gotta keep costs down somehow 🤦‍♂️

Edited December 30, 2022 by JimF-LowBari

[greg_orangecounty]

14 hours ago, C.Holland said:

Building management systems that help keep emergencies under control also help to quantify every utility used per sq ft of a facility.  So they can understand where efficiency can be improved in operations.   
 

while it’s unfortunate that schools are no longer free, it’s also now that we can see just what stress a drum corps puts on a building. And that how much everyone took for granted for decades of all the costs involved. (Elex, water, sewage, security, cleaning… etc)

How much does your water and elex bill go up when your in-laws and their 3 kids come to stay over the holidays?  Now multiply that by 30.  That’s hosting a drum corps. 

 

Schools were never free.  We did pay to rent out a high school gym, use their lockers/showers and practice on their field.  Back then their thinking was "Hey, we're not using our school in the summer anyway, and this nice youth band will be in town.  Why not let them use our school for a couple days and make a few bucks!?"  

It wasn't considered a revenue source for schools as it might be today.  Oh well.  Times change.  Cheap-ish housing was the backbone of Drum Corps.  If that disappears then......

[Jeff Ream]

23 hours ago, C.Holland said:

Building management systems that help keep emergencies under control also help to quantify every utility used per sq ft of a facility.  So they can understand where efficiency can be improved in operations.   
 

while it’s unfortunate that schools are no longer free, it’s also now that we can see just what stress a drum corps puts on a building. And that how much everyone took for granted for decades of all the costs involved. (Elex, water, sewage, security, cleaning… etc)

How much does your water and elex bill go up when your in-laws and their 3 kids come to stay over the holidays?  Now multiply that by 30.  That’s hosting a drum corps. 

 

and add in the hundreds if not more schools burned by corps that did not take care of housing sites in the past

[MikeD]

On 12/29/2022 at 11:33 PM, Jeff Ream said:

It’s not set up like that anymore. Multiple spaces for gender, age, staff, support…. You don’t get to use power or water free…. Gotta pay for school staff to be on site… there’s way more involved. And schools know they can get the $$$ cause they know corps need the school 

I know that in NJ, any time there are people in a school there must be a custodian present who has a black seal for the furnace operation. On top of all other costs.

[Tim K]

On 12/30/2022 at 9:49 AM, JimF-LowBari said:

people (1) hate school taxes and (2) hate “outsiders” using facilities that should be for their kids. Charge a crapload of money can help keep them calmed down.

Irony as family member retiring from teaching as new contract will gut part of the retirement package. Gotta keep costs down somehow 🤦‍♂️

During the academic year, charging $3,000 for 8 hours that includes the gym, cafeteria, and the band room is not exorbitant, especially if the three facilities are not located near each other and require other parts of the school to be accessible. I know a photo conference I helped organize that needed a school auditorium, a cafeteria, and an entrance for six hours cost $2,500 and that was in 2012. 

I’ve mentioned this from the school point of view before, renting facilities is often not worthwhile. In many public schools, the profits do not benefit the school or the district. Funds go to the cities and towns who are the actual owners of the property. Private schools and depending on the locality, charter schools, can rent to non profits and consider it fundraising, but if it is rented to a for profit group, you run the risk of having to pay property taxes. 

[JimF-LowBari]

Just now, Tim K said:

During the academic year, charging $3,000 for 8 hours that includes the gym, cafeteria, and the band room is not exorbitant, especially if the three facilities are not located near each other and require other parts of the school to be accessible. I know a photo conference I helped organize that needed a school auditorium, a cafeteria, and an entrance for six hours cost $2,500 and that was in 2012. 

I’ve mentioned this from the school point of view before, renting facilities is often not worthwhile. In many public schools, the profits do not benefit the school or the district. Funds go to the cities and towns who are the actual owners of the property. Private schools and depending on the locality, charter schools, can rent to non profits and consider it fundraising, but if it is rented to a for profit group, you run the risk of having to pay property taxes. 

Point I was trying to make is residents of some districts are so self serving it’s hard to get facilities for outside groups. And most of the self serving is spelled $elf $erving. Bottom line for my area is school taxes. So if school board can show it brought in money by renting then they don’t have to worry as much about the next election

[Jeff Ream]

11 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Point I was trying to make is residents of some districts are so self serving it’s hard to get facilities for outside groups. And most of the self serving is spelled $elf $erving. Bottom line for my area is school taxes. So if school board can show it brought in money by renting then they don’t have to worry as much about the next election

actually community sports groups not affiliated with the schools get preference over school groups for gym time. hence teaching indoor drill in a cafeteria for years

[JimF-LowBari]

1 hour ago, Jeff Ream said:

actually community sports groups not affiliated with the schools get preference over school groups for gym time. hence teaching indoor drill in a cafeteria for years

Interesting… take it you mean “community “ as in local. IOW powers that be who give permission might have ties to the group. When I posted “outside” I was thinking non locals.

[C.Holland]

19 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Interesting… take it you mean “community “ as in local. IOW powers that be who give permission might have ties to the group. When I posted “outside” I was thinking non locals.

I used to manage a dodgeball league. We rented an elementary gym 4 nights a week when the league was at its strongest.  We paid… a lot of money for one gym.  It’s good that we had a bud light sponsorship to help pay for everything else that league gave back to the players for social events.