Reader comments
High school sports: Fee waivers a tricky issue

eliminate 50% administration | 8:08 a.m. Jan. 6, 2009

Get rid of the fluff at the UHSSA and at every district. All the money gets ate up by over staffed administration. Take a look at your school districts and see the money wasted. Why where there no fees to play sports, no transportation fees, no hotel fees 20 years ago when people made less money? Could it be the business model is run very poorly today. People today want the cushy job, the big salary, and the student and the family take the brunt.

Ben Lomond | 8:35 a.m. Jan. 6, 2009

Doesn't surprise me that 70 percent of Ben Lomond's players are on fee waivers. The funny thing about it, though, is that Ogden High, maybe a mile away on the same street as Ben Lomond, probably has about half that number of students of fee waivers. The economic parity in the city of Ogden is astounding. when I played sports (at Ogden High) I was always well aware of which students were on waivers. I don't know if those students felt any shame because of this, but with the majority of students on waivers at BL, I doubt it's a real issue. Not a great point of pride for the city of Ogden, though. I'd imagine that a school like Wendover or another small school would top the 70 percent mark as far as waivers go. Still what does that say about our society? Parents are having kids they can't support? Workers are underpaid? Take your pick. What a depressing story here.

Pay the Teacher less | 10:04 a.m. Jan. 6, 2009

Here is an idea. Let's cut teacher's pay. I think the coaches are over paid too. School is way over-rated anyways we can just look up anything we need to know on google.

Comments continue below

Oh my | 10:24 a.m. Jan. 6, 2009

you got to be kidding me... cut the teachers and caoches pay?????? I was a coach and if you add up all my time I spent coaching I mad 2.33 an hour.... I think you are a littlt crazy.

Oh my Sarcasm | 10:37 a.m. Jan. 6, 2009

"Oh my" I don't think you recognize sarcasm

soccer coach | 11:01 a.m. Jan. 6, 2009

Sports teach responsibility to teammates, school, and self. Can you look that up on Google? Sports also keeps your body healthy. Does looking things up on Google help your body perform properly? I don't mind getting paid very little for coaching because I love the team and the sport but to cut my pay would mean I am not worth anything to you or to the school and that is not fair!

Costs the same | 11:33 a.m. Jan. 6, 2009

Small schools pay just as much for referees as large schools, but with a smaller funding base, and smaller (or no) gate receipts to offset the cost.

In my district, no student is charged fees. Period. No textbook fees. No sports participation fees. No band, orchestra, chorus or dance fees. No cheerleading fees. No uniform fees. The only extra students pay for is a yearbook if they want one, and for materials for projects they will keep (such as shop or home ec classes).

I am in a Utah public K12 district BTW.

Harky | 11:47 a.m. Jan. 6, 2009

It never ceases to amaze me that people cry about students test scores and the cost of education when we teach more students for less than anywhere else. Not only do we teach them, but we give them extracurricular activities and opportunities that schools all over the world donï¿½t get.

Each district spends hundreds of thousands of dollars for sports and other programs that students in other countries donï¿½t have. Then the citizens of our state complain that the education students are getting isnï¿½t good enough.

Iï¿½ve often wondered what would happen if we did away with sports in school, but parents wouldnï¿½t allow that to happen.

What are the requirements? | 12:13 p.m. Jan. 6, 2009

When I was in school there were several people on the football team that were on waivers that didn't need to be. This was in the late 90's so things may have changed but the requirements at that time were pretty loose to qualify for the waivers. Tighten things up so people that can really afford it don't play the system.

Just do away | 1:27 p.m. Jan. 6, 2009

with the fee waivers. Where I'm from a activity fee to play a sport is about $70, maybe more for football. If you have 15-20 kids that need that paid, just have the booster club pay, or have these kids all be part a fund raiser for "their" participation in that sport. Having athletes go through the system knowing that someone is always going to pick up the tab for them is not good.

Football Costs | 3:48 p.m. Jan. 6, 2009

As a current palyer i know how much it costs to play football in highschool. My fees were about $400 after you add in camps, a physical, the clothing we keep, and all the fees the district makes us pay. Its not cheap but extras like expensive cleats and gloves aren't nessary.

Too Bad | 3:55 p.m. Jan. 6, 2009

Its hard to feel bad for the "70 percent" of kids on fee waiver at Ben Lomond High when the player in the picture showed is wearing Under Armour cleats and Cutters gloves, two of the most expensive brand names in football. If your on fee waiver and can "aford" gloves that are $50 to $80 and cleats that are usually at least $70 then fee waiver rules need to be more strict.

Interesting... | 4:47 p.m. Jan. 6, 2009

No mention of West or Granger or Cyprus or Ogden...they have the highest percentages in the state.

oldman | 8:49 p.m. Jan. 6, 2009

I think that most of you are missing the point with fee waivers. Sure they impact athletics but their impact is felt just as much in the classroom. As a science teacher in a local high school I had to stop using a lab book because half the class couldn't afford to pay the extra fee so the text had to be provided free to students on fee waivers. Eventually I had to find another way to get the lab work done and cut costs to the school.

In the art departments fees drive the supplies for those classes. If half the students are on fee waivers the school still needs to provide needed materials.

So Fee Waivers impact the entire school not just athletics and when you have a school with 70% of the studentbody on fee waivers how does the school function.... it doesn't.

ipod | 9:24 p.m. Jan. 6, 2009

I think in order to qualify for a fee waiver for sports you have to prove that you do not own a $300 ipod and/or don't have a season pass to snowbasin.

Maybe it should hurt | 4:57 a.m. Jan. 7, 2009

Maybe it SHOULD stink to not be able to afford to do all the fun things the other kids do. Maybe the kids left behind might think "I better study and get smart so that I can get a decent job and pay to do these things myself". Since when did it become everybody else's responsibility to pay for my kids' fun? Maybe the kids that can't afford to play should get a part-time job. Jobs and work can teach and build character just as sports do.

Science Teacher | 10:51 a.m. Jan. 7, 2009

Worse: having 70% of your students get everything for free and THUS, treat everything as disposable.

Free everything equals no respect nor responsibility. Poor schools are often high up in vandalism and destruction of school property.

Why should they care? YOU pay for it, not them.

Time to do away with fee waivers. You get the basic education, but no more passes on activities and/or extra-curricular supplies.

Fee's | 6:44 p.m. Jan. 7, 2009

I pay to get into every game. Where does that money go? Now teams are going to Hawaii, Florida, etc...Where are they getting the money for that?

Re; Interesting | 6:55 p.m. Jan. 7, 2009

West, Granger, Cyprus, or Ogden the highest 5 of fee waivers? Hardly, Monument Valley, Whitehorse, and Navajo Mountain are nearly 100% fee waiver. They have far and away the highest percent. And for the goof that keeps stating that high paid administrators are the problem with all funding problems in Utah schools. Think Again. No school, no team, no group is any better than its leader. It's no secret why Utah just gave Whittingham a raise or why Florida paid Urban so much or another hundred examples. When you find a great school, you find a great leader at the top. The opposite is also true. You might find isolated pockets of brillance but not group wide success. Find another scapegoat.

Re:Re? | 8:25 p.m. Jan. 7, 2009

I believe they were talking about the larger public schools in the state.

Make players earn it | 11:08 p.m. Jan. 7, 2009

Set up fundraisers

to science teacher | 7:50 a.m. Jan. 9, 2009

I have coached at both Granger and West, and you hit it dead center, the kids expect to get something for nothing.Why not get rid of fee waivers, let the kid save up and work to participate, BETTER YET GIVE FEE WAIVERS TO THOSE WHO HAVE 3.0 OR BETTER GPA AND NO F'S OR NO GRADES, and meet the criteria for fee waiver. This is just for extra-curricular. The classroom fee waiver still needs to exist.

Ben Lomond Coach | 3:26 p.m. Jan. 21, 2009

Trust me "TOO BAD". Majority of the fee waivers are valid at the school. I must have given away 10-15 pairs of my old cleats from when I played at USU. There is a pretty gap between social classes at the school, so that is why in the picture the player was wearing UA cleats and cutter gloves. Get your facts from someone who knows.

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