Posted on 08/31/2010 10:56:15 PM PDT by Entrepreneur
I have no idea what the law is on this, but I do know that if you make waves on this, your kid will *never* get cast as anything but dogcatcher this year. And you won’t be able to do a thing about it, because it’s all subjective. They’ll simply say he wasn’t “suitable” for whatever role, and he won’t get any real experience on stage. FWIW, I would pay up this year, and run your (excellent!!) ad *next* year when he is off in college or whatever.
Speaking of college, just my .02 here. If your kid wants to be a director, scene designer, or anything in theater except an actor, then a four-year college program in theater may be of use to him in getting jobs after graduation. But if he wants to be an actor (not an acting teacher, just an actor), then he is better off going straight to Hollywood or Broadway right after graduation. If he wants to work in Hollywood, he may be better off going out there and taking classes while he pursues work. Hollywood likes ‘em young.
If you/he want him to have a degree of some sort, then encourage him to get a degree in something that can be his day job while he pursues theater work. (A day job can’t be something that takes his full time & attention, such as law — it has to be something less demanding. Also, he will then have to be willing to relocate near Broadway or Hollywood, or else do regional work in smaller theaters.) He can still take theater classes at the college, get a minor in theater, and have the theater experience in college, while getting a degree in something that will actually enable him to make a living. A degree in acting is worth about as much as a bucket of warm spit. (Unless he wants to teach. However, anyone who wants to teach acting should realize THAT will be his end-stage job. He won’t be buzzing back and forth between Booyah H.S. and Broadway. If he’s happy with that, okay.)
Just my .02, of course — though it does come from experience. Good luck to your kid. He’ll need it.
Read a little further down, and I see your point. If it's an elective requirement, then yeah, you definitely could make a case that the ad sales are unnecessary.
I'm thinking that the drama teacher or program director is probably not a regular employee of the school, and their salary needs to be paid. That is one of the exceptions noted above that would merit a fee.
Also, the program director may have a "hard line" on participation in the class because they have been burned in the past. Someone promises to raise their fair share to cover expenses of set construction, costume rental, music rights, etc., and puts bogus company names down.
At the school my children used to attend (before homeschooling), all the clubs, EX Programs had to raise their own money. Chess, dance, drums, theater, etc., were independent. But you may be able to make a case since they are tying this to a grade!
Good luck with this!
You know, before I even found out about this, my kid did. Once learning the check from one of the businesses that bought an ad hadn't arrived, my kid changed into a corporate suit, went to a local restaurant and sold another ad, except the check won't be cut for two days. The theater department has threatened to throw my kid out of the program tomorrow for insufficient ad sales.
Sorry....I misunderstood. Sounds like freepers who are more in the know than I, say it’s legal, unfortunately. If the business ‘mailed it’, they should be willing to provide you with something in writing...maybe that would suffice? If not, I’d be generating PLENTY of misery at that school too....and did! ;)
Except, I know what a lawsuit costs. It would be an empty threat. Besides, tort action is after the fact and doesn't stop the school from doing something stupid tomorrow. If needed, I will camp out at the school and leverage my contacts.
Well I guess that explains why virtually all extracurricular activities at schools around here are gone.
You can’t expect people to be responsible for their own expenses so the special programs get canceled.
If only. There's all of the other things you mentioned, including direct fees for travel. However, no one threatens to toss the kid from the program for missing a car wash.
So write the check, and politely let the business know that you covered it for them, and they could pay at their convenience to you. Seems like a zero interest loan for people you know, and let the drama queens finish with their tizzy. I mean, it IS a drama program, what exactly did you expect?
Dang. This is logical. I haven't finished venting yet.
It is good advice. Thanks.
You’ll have to do more than claim it “apparently is the law”.
You said:
“According to the IRS, a group or club cannot require that a member participate in a fund-raiser nor require that each member raise a certain amount. In addition, the IRS stipulates that a member who does not participate in a fund-raiser would be entitled to the same benefits as those members who did participate.”
Girl scouts, boy scouts, FFA and 4H are all common clubs and they aren’t free. Your IRS claim says nothing about school groups or clubs, it simply said “group or club”.
Hetty,
You’re right. I’ve learned this the hard way in the past. Make waves and the petty tyrants retaliate on your kids.
I wish theater was the collegiate objective. It’s worse. It’s opera. I think this is the payback for having another kid major in PR and marketing, hold down real jobs, and graduate on time. If only this kid would work for me!
My solution is to work with the other kid on starting and running a business, which is happening. It turns out my opera singer has a knack for entrepreneurship!
Unless the goal is a performing arts conservatory, you will find the scholarships are relatively modest. In our case, it is about 15% of the tuition at a private college; other scholarships she got were much more. The only scholarship requirement was to be a major or minor and participate in one play per year as an actor, crew or even as a ticket taker. [And these were pretty good liberal arts schools] Much to our surprise, she fell in love with Chemistry at college. She is now a theater/chemistry double major, with minors in math, physics, psychology and dance; go figure [it is taking 5 years lol]
My advice, relax a bit and just pay for the non-confrontational ad. Perhaps ‘Courtesy of a loving family’ for an ad. Don't give your kid any more grief, your ordeal is almost done (with the right college selection)
Every school looked at to date has an audition that determines the money. This matters more for the out-of-state and private schools.
I am relaxing, though I continue to loathe the school and district. We had a horrible elementary school, pulled the kids for a charter school, put them back into a terrific middle school, and have endured high school. My oldest had a better experience because of an outstanding band director. Unfortunately, things seem to balance out.
Anyway, good, well reasoned input. Thanks.
That was pulled directly from the district’s website.
This statement really irks me.
Well guess what, everyone else who owns property and who don't have children in school ALSO pay dearly for it all, year after year. What goodies should they get instead?
A major problem in this country is people who think they “paid in” and therefore are entitled to take whatever they can get out at every opportunity. The public unions say they paid in so they are entitled to retire at 52 and receive their guaranteed ever increasing rate of return pensions for life regardless of what their "investments" do. They earned it, just ask them.
Got a link.
I’ll add that I currently pay about $30k a year in property taxes.
Which needless to say makes somewhat bitter about this subject...
My two daughters, one 12 and the other 15 are both currently home schooled. What am I getting for all that school money?
write the check, keep your head down, let kid graduate.
Then run for school board, and give them HELL!!!!!
Squat. When teens come around trolling for money for some program; I tell them to go get it from the school unions or the wealthy school administrators. Oh...and 'get off my lawn'. :-)
One of my children attended public school and the other private school; and I was once a public school teacher for four years duuring the 1980’s. It is my opinion that teachers, by and large, are self-serving, cynical and lazy. The public school system is completely corrupted and will never get better until there is serious competition.
In my day, taxes paid for everything, we had no fund raisers for anything. Of course "my day" may have been a long time before yours. I attended public school 1951-1963.
Go to the teacher and say this:
NO
They’ll back down.
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