So the total expenditure for girls sports must equal the total expenditure as boys sports. Correct?
So tired of hearing "it's not fair" from other parents
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So the total expenditure for girls sports must equal the total expenditure as boys sports. Correct?
I just don't see it, am I missing the forest for the trees? Let's take my old public HS, there was an article in the paper about their operating expenses last year, a yearly budget of $75,000 for baseball ( they enter big national HS tournaments ). The BB team has a nice large stadium, the SB school team plays at the local park fields. The SB yearly expenses are under $10,000, a co-worker friend has a DD playing.
No,
If I equip the football team with the latest and greatest, I would also equip an equal number of females participating in athletics with the latest and greatest. That likely would not be spending the same amount of money given the cost of football equipment.
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If that's the way it is with all boys/girls sports, all it takes is for someone to file a complaint with the Dept of Ed, Office of Civil Rights (OCR). It would change.
- Apr 1, 2010
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DD's softball coach said they gave him (as best as I remember) 5 dozen softballs and 3 new scorebooks. That's to spread between the varsity, junior varsity and C teams. They started in fundraising right away. The varsity uniforms are old, but DD is still lucky. The JV and C uniforms are apparently baseball hand-downs that she says are HUGE. They're hoping to someday have enough raised to get new uniforms and have the varsity field leveled a bit. I don't think things like paved paths, a concession stand, bathrooms, etc. are even a dream.
It's a bit painful when I look across the campus at the pretty football field and baseball field, with their stonework buildings and nice stands and contrast that with the softball fields with their battered old stands, the mud and gravel path and the porta potty, and even worse when I go to some other local high school and see that they somehow managed to fund nice softball fields with concession stands and bathrooms, etc. The trick seems to be to put the baseball and softball fields together into one complex.
...Oh, and they turned their locker room into an autism classroom, so the girls now change in the hall or in the closest ladies room. There is still one girls locker room, but I believe it's too far away to make sense for them to use it.
On the other hand, at least there IS a softball program. I remember when there were hardly any varsity sports for girls.
It's a bit painful when I look across the campus at the pretty football field and baseball field, with their stonework buildings and nice stands and contrast that with the softball fields with their battered old stands, the mud and gravel path and the porta potty, and even worse when I go to some other local high school and see that they somehow managed to fund nice softball fields with concession stands and bathrooms, etc. The trick seems to be to put the baseball and softball fields together into one complex.
...Oh, and they turned their locker room into an autism classroom, so the girls now change in the hall or in the closest ladies room. There is still one girls locker room, but I believe it's too far away to make sense for them to use it.
On the other hand, at least there IS a softball program. I remember when there were hardly any varsity sports for girls.
Bunches of lawsuits and results like this out there:
Title IX compliance a result of lawsuit against Elgin U-46 - DailyHerald.com
But it's simply the tip of the iceberg.
Title IX compliance a result of lawsuit against Elgin U-46 - DailyHerald.com
But it's simply the tip of the iceberg.
medicpelle
You are looking live.....
Title IX is only worth the paper it's printed on unless someone understands, comprehends, and hold those in power accountable for it at the lower levels. Buy lower levels I mean HS. NCAA is looking to nail anyone on these that's not a money making power house as well. Follow the dollars.....
This thread has taken an interesting turn. Brian's linked article was interesting - especially the part about scheduling disparities. I've noticed that with girls basketball as well - the boys play on Friday nights, while the girls play during the week. I agree that the scheduling puts the girls at an academic disadvantage. Boys baseball and girls softball seem to be equally disadvantaged regarding academics and scheduling. Boys and girls golf have it the hardest - their contests take up entire school days.
In all fairness, I see disparity between sports, not just boys vs girls. Our school has one field that is shared between football and boys soccer in the fall. Football gets the prime after school practice time, while boys soccer has to practice and play their games at night. At my alma mater, we had to practice (field hockey) after football. We shared the evening practice slots with soccer, alternating between the 7-9 pm slot and the 9-11 pm slot. Now field hockey has its own, dedicated turf - a luxury that most high schools can't afford.
Ms Dinosaur - technically, every school has to have to have a Title IX officer - a teacher or member of the administration who is specifically trained and handles all Title IX issues. Most schools don't have this - they don't even know that they need to have it. As Brian's article stated, a parents letter to the administration usually goes unanswered. I don't really fault anyone on this - school administrators are stretched extremely thin, as are district administrators. They simply do not have the time or resources. Many of them work 60 or more hour weeks without the pay to show for it. You may know, or know someone who knows, a lawyer or practice that specializes in Title IX. That person could write a letter to the school and offer to consult with them, pro bono, about Title IX compliance. This could help get the ball rolling towards equal facilities for the softball team.
In all fairness, I see disparity between sports, not just boys vs girls. Our school has one field that is shared between football and boys soccer in the fall. Football gets the prime after school practice time, while boys soccer has to practice and play their games at night. At my alma mater, we had to practice (field hockey) after football. We shared the evening practice slots with soccer, alternating between the 7-9 pm slot and the 9-11 pm slot. Now field hockey has its own, dedicated turf - a luxury that most high schools can't afford.
Ms Dinosaur - technically, every school has to have to have a Title IX officer - a teacher or member of the administration who is specifically trained and handles all Title IX issues. Most schools don't have this - they don't even know that they need to have it. As Brian's article stated, a parents letter to the administration usually goes unanswered. I don't really fault anyone on this - school administrators are stretched extremely thin, as are district administrators. They simply do not have the time or resources. Many of them work 60 or more hour weeks without the pay to show for it. You may know, or know someone who knows, a lawyer or practice that specializes in Title IX. That person could write a letter to the school and offer to consult with them, pro bono, about Title IX compliance. This could help get the ball rolling towards equal facilities for the softball team.
- Nov 3, 2012
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I like this thread. I was under the imprression that title IX only related to college sports. I've really never heard it referenced to high school sports, but it does make sense that it would apply.
My booster club experience at our hs in Indiana is that each team/sport has a representative in the booster club commitee. The booster club then votes how the funds are allocated. Each coach makes requests to the club for what they need. Note our school also has an activity fee for each sport to defer costs. Note the football fee is higher like $100 and other sports are vary but $50 to participate. The higher football fee is do to the additional cost of football.
When I compare facilities at our school, the softball and baseball team both have nice stadiums. I think both sports are treated well. I know that a lot of sports also have individual fund raisers to raise money for additional travel.
My booster club experience at our hs in Indiana is that each team/sport has a representative in the booster club commitee. The booster club then votes how the funds are allocated. Each coach makes requests to the club for what they need. Note our school also has an activity fee for each sport to defer costs. Note the football fee is higher like $100 and other sports are vary but $50 to participate. The higher football fee is do to the additional cost of football.
When I compare facilities at our school, the softball and baseball team both have nice stadiums. I think both sports are treated well. I know that a lot of sports also have individual fund raisers to raise money for additional travel.
Most of the time, the school administration is unaware of the problem and the law. You write them a letter informing them of the disparity and ask them to correct it. If they don't, you file a Title IX complaint.
The situation we had was a softball field without dugouts or a fence. It was basically just a backstop in the middle of a field. The baseball field, of course, had the whole works. We asked them to fix the issue. They refused. We filed the complaint with the Office of Civil rights, and the school made the fields comparable.
The most fun I had was over a soccer program. The school district had a co-ed soccer team, which always had 15 players, with three of the slots allocated for girls. It didn't matter how good the girls were. They had about five team pictures in the trophy case...always three girls--no more, no less.
The school district said this was not discriminatory. Six months later, the school district had a boys soccer team and a girls soccer team for every middle school in the district.
I could not let my DDs be treated as second class citizens.
MsDinosaur...why do you let the conditions exist?
The situation we had was a softball field without dugouts or a fence. It was basically just a backstop in the middle of a field. The baseball field, of course, had the whole works. We asked them to fix the issue. They refused. We filed the complaint with the Office of Civil rights, and the school made the fields comparable.
The most fun I had was over a soccer program. The school district had a co-ed soccer team, which always had 15 players, with three of the slots allocated for girls. It didn't matter how good the girls were. They had about five team pictures in the trophy case...always three girls--no more, no less.
The school district said this was not discriminatory. Six months later, the school district had a boys soccer team and a girls soccer team for every middle school in the district.
I could not let my DDs be treated as second class citizens.
MsDinosaur...why do you let the conditions exist?
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