Friday Night in West Lafayette
My growing disinterest in politics as an on-line game is spilling over into the real world. Last night, Bernie Sanders came to town. He was speaking less than two miles away from where I live. On the other hand, my kids were playing in the marching band at the high school football game less than one mile away. I don’t have any particularly negative feelings about Sanders himself and, politically, he very accurately identifies some of our problems, and I’m on board with many of his solutions. That said, I’m still pretty raw about the comportment of a number of his followers. During the 2020 primaries, I was mostly supportive of Pete Buttigieg. Too many of Sanders supporters — not Sanders himself — would’ve had me believe that Mayor Pete was a racist corporate stooge who controlled the price of bread and wasn’t that smart, actually. I didn’t see much of this from other candidates’ supporters, so it wasn’t just a generic primary fight issue. It was a strategic, scorched-earth choice on someone’s part — probably more prevalent online than on the ground.
But, truth be told, my lack of interest in the Sanders event didn’t have much to do with the scars of the primary. I actively wanted to be at the football game. I like football, and I love the community. Schools are the heart beat of a community, and this is part of why that is. There’s just something I love about gathering in the stands with people I know, cheering the good guys and booing the bad guys (and eating slightly stale, over salted popcorn from the concession stand). These are people I mostly don’t know well, but who I know well enough. Many of us have been bumping into each other at school events for a decade now. When Twitter and Facebook got going a dozen or so years ago, one of the things they promoted was referred to as “ambient intimacy.” You don’t see that so much any more once the algorithms took hold and the chronological timelines were obliterated. But, it used to be, you’d get a lightweight look into the lives of friends and acquaintances. These people would never call you up to tell you that their six year old did a cool tumble at gymnastics, but you’d see it in passing online and, if you ever did bump into them, you’d know that they had an elementary school kid who was into gymnastics. You get some of that in real life with the crowd you see at the football games. (Yeah, I know, there are people laughing at my framing real life as a spin-off of online life here when the reality should be the opposite.)
Also, let me take a moment to gush about my kids & the marching band. My son is a senior in high school and my daughter is a junior. The band community has become central to their adolescence. When they’re not studying, their primary extracurricular activities revolve around the band. They march, they play at games, their band mates make up their social circle. It’s pretty common for a crew of 10-12 of them to gather in our back yard after football games. (The fun went on past midnight last night). The band parents are a pretty fantastic group — almost all nice people, friendly and dedicated to their kids; they tend to be joiners and volunteers, happy to pitch in for a cause. The whole thing – seeing them wail on their instruments, shouting support to the team, goofing around with their friends – it’s all a source of joy and community. These are the things that bring us together and help make a place good to live in. I’m just thankful to have the opportunity to participate.
Oh, and you’ll all be happy to know that West Side beat McCutcheon 30-7.
I’m thankful to get to see your kids grow up and be part of that community/social circle. It enriches my life to be able to give back, support, share my two cents and be a part of the community. I never understand folks who see that as beneath them or as odd. I’m a small town guy, who’s lucky enough to live and work in one of the best kept secrets in Indiana. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’m with you, brother!
I see your causation -> correlation is still working per state title things.
Full speed ahead to Lucas Oil!
I am guessing your high school band has not gone non-profit like the larger high school bands in Indiana. By doing so they do not have to abide by rules set by the education department on how often they can play.. The show choirs that have gone non-profit at all of the large schools and are pushing a minimum of a half of million dollars a year thru their books.
I have talked to parents of band members that don’t attend the football games since they can go to a band competition and see their children play longer.. Smaller schools in Indy are still the place to watch a high school football games, When Roncalli comes to FC they bring so many fans that it pushes the football program into the red financially for the year.
I have been to a Roncalli (Catholic School) game and dang they understand football and what it means to their school. On the one end the field elementary kids are throwing footballs. Outside the fence fifth and sixth graders are playing touch football. There is usually a dinner before the game for the fans. They will honor a sports team or some former sports star or team at half time. It is just so much fun.
Go to a game at FC and they have the same grass area where kids could go throw footballs
is empty. Used to be able to park (with global warming there are very few cold games) at the west end of the field and watch thru the fence. They covered up the fence so older people that parked there no longer come to the games. Then they have security people yelling at the kids for running in the cement stands. On top of it they lose every season so the majority of people that show are band and players parents. The number of students that show up is ridiculously low considering how many students attend the high school. I am not even sure winning will fix the problems that many of the schools around Indy have getting the community to attend high school football and basketball games.
The Show Choir’s Xmas shows, is the show to see and be seen. They had five sell out shows (before co-vid) over eight thousand people showed up. A friend of mine figured that they had more people show up then the football and basketball (visitors not included) attendance combined. On top of the Xmas show they had a spring show that has two sold out performances..
When a nonprofit dedicated to the arts is doing way better financially then government supported sports, is it time to revaluate how we fund our extra curricular activities in our schools. When a high school robotic teacher makes less then a seventh grade basketball coach something is broke in our educational system. Yes sports are a great place for parents to get together to bond. So are robotic, chess, mathematic tournaments, choir and theater shows. Yet scales are weighed down in favor of sports. I looked at way to many ECA reports during my Co-Vid vacation (If I say Pep-Club I wonder if anyone under the age of 55 would know what I am talking about VBG!) and it is so sad we value sports over more educating activities.
One thing I found out on my Cov-Id vacation if a high school tennis teacher has a fund raiser and raises $2000 and spends $1000 and quits and doesn’t come back for the next season the left over $1000 dollars is considered athletic department money even if the team folds. If a robotics teacher does the same thing (he or she is in charge of the funds) and leaves and the club folds the school has to find the teacher to get the money even thou the money is in the school bank account. Going back to Pep Club , it was what high school girls did before sports. They all closed up shop in the early seventies. There are still seven school corporations that have money in the bank for Pep Club, that money has been in the banks for close to fifty years due to this insane law. Working with a Indiana Senator to see if they can come with a way to clear the books every couple of years and direct the money to where it is supposed to go or somewhere close. Only a million (Scholarship, grants, band money oh heck just about anything you can think of!) dollars and hundred thousands or more in change. The saddest thing I saw was a elementary chili supper (12 grand) that was held in 2015 and the money was never spent. Imagine the parents, teachers, staff and kids that put in the work to pull this off. None of the money was spent on the kids,, how sad is that! Let me tell you that was one dark and smelly rabbit hole. I will see if it goes anywhere once the legislative session starts back up. Keep ya all posted!
We have a band boosters organization. I’m not 100% sure how they’re organized, but I don’t think it’s doing anything like what some of the huge school band organizations are doing. Some of the bigger schools that show up to State Fair band day very clearly have a lot more money to spend than we do.
Outside of the West Lafayette football games, we have a lot of that beautiful chaos going on outside. I’m not very familiar with the peewee football structure, but they seem to have a good structure in place for getting them started young and reloading. If I had to guess, the efficiency of that structure is somewhat new. I think maybe our football program went through a lull before my kids got into the school. In any event, outside of the stands, there are areas where you’ve got feral kids running free and having a great time.
Here is the Law that needs to be amended so schools can access the dormant funds. that totals over a million and a half dollars in school corporations bank accounts. They destroy the ECA records after five years so no one knows who was in charge and on scholarship and grants on what and how they are supposed to be used or awarded.. Notice the exception for athletic funds.
I5-3.
(b) The funds of all accounts of any organization, class, or activity shall be accounted separately from all others. Funds may not be transferred from the accounts of any organization, class, or activity except by a majority vote of its members, if any, and by the approval of the principal, sponsor, and treasurer of the organization, class, or activity. However, in the case of athletic funds.
(1) approval of the transfer must be made by the athletic director, who is regarded as the sponsor; and
(2) participating students are not considered members.
All expenditures of the funds are subject to review by the governing body of the school corporation.
[Pre-2006 Recodification Citation: 20-26-6-7.]
As added by P.L.2-2006, SEC.164. AmC 20-41-1-4Forms
Sec. 4. (a) All forms and records for keeping the accounts of the extracurricular activities in school corporations shall be prescribed or approved by the state board of accounts. The records and affairs of the extracurricular activities may be examined by the state board of accounts when the state examiner determines an examination is necessary. The forms prescribed or approved for keeping these accounts must achieve a simplified system of bookkeeping and shall be paid for, along with the bond required in this chapter, from the education fund or operations fund in accordance with the categories of expenditures established under IC 20-42.ended by P.L.238-2019, SEC.17.
Scholarships
Our opinion would be that the transactions for scholarships should be included in the School Corporation records. It would be based on the fact that it is more closely associated with an educational type expense (being a scholarship) and not an extracurricular type expense. IC 20-40-14 specifically allows School Corporations to account for gifts and endowments given for a special purpose in its own School Corporation fund. Per the Chart of Accounts in the Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual Chapter 4, 2000 series funds are to account for Donations, Gifts, and Trusts. Scholarships are to be accounted for specifically in Funds 2700-2799. I have included a link to Chapter 4 below. I believe the normal process would be for the school to accept the money and then pay it directly to the college/university on behalf of the student that receives the scholarship. The checks should not be written to an individual.
Yeah,most of Sander’s supporters are lower caste and I can see why an affluent member of society such as yourself would hate his supporters. How dare they have a mind of their own and have a differing opinion. I’m sure we can agree that voting should be the exclusive provenance for those earning six figure incomes.
Gosh,if only they would die.
Yeah, this is the sort of thing I remember from the primaries.