In response the array of proposals by state Sen. Dennis Nolan to impose fees on students who play high school sports and fining parents whose kids get sent to detention for things like chewing gum in class, Mrs. T.R. Moore of Carson City shot off the following letter to the nominally Republican senator from Las Vegas:
“I’m writing to you as a parent of 3 boys who not only have had their share of detention but have actively played sports. My concern here is that my children never learn to change bad behavior if I’m ‘bailing’ them out by paying a detention fee. You will not make people better parents or more involved parents or more caring parents or any other kind of parent by charging them to do their first job, be a parent.
“Allowing children to suffer consequences from their own behavior choices is being a good parent. Those who have more money than others will just pay it. They’re the parents that give their tantrum-throwing ankle-biters whatever they want in the store just to shut them up or buy them a television for their room so they can do their own thing and not be bothered by their kids who really would rather have mom and dads attention.
“Those people who are on a very limited income, i.e. single parents, grandparents, disabled etc., are already facing challenges financially and it would cause an additional burden, not to mention the social issues we constantly hear about from broken homes where many ‘repeat offenders’ are often found. This detention fee bill is not a solution to poor parenting.
“Regarding your fee on sports playing students, I hope you realize that parents already have big expenses when it comes to sports. Especially as they become older and begin traveling. You will again put an unnecessary financial burden on many people. Those who are low income may never get to play because of this tax.
“As a conservative Republican I’m so discouraged by such liberal taxing of the people and this is not your first attempt. As of last month I pulled my membership from the RNC (Republican National Committee) because of the Republican representation, or lack thereof. These ideas of bigger government and more spending is out of control in Washington and has no place in our great State of Nevada. I’m sure Ronald Regan and Barry Goldwater would be scratching their heads if they were serving today.”
Indeed! I think I need to hire Mrs. Moore to be my ghost-writer.
Posted on March 25th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
MORE TAXPAYER FUNDING FOR MRS. MOORE, STAT!!! Sounds like another RINO!
Again I ask of all of you read the bills please. They are available for all to see. Again Mr. Muth the bill is for middle school and junior high athletic programs, and not high school as you seem insistent to proclaim. It is an optional fee that the parents must pay. If your child wants to play a middle school sport, and if the parent chooses pay then the child can play the sport. It’s not a fee that we all must pay. I would like to see more kids getting involved, the lessons learned through organized sports, and the discipline instilled is wonderful.
As far as the detention goes, I sat through classes where other kids were disruptive. I know how difficult it is to learn when you had that distraction going on. If parents were hit with fees I think a lot of kids will be settling down. This fee is to be paid by only the parent of the child that is being disruptive. Mr. Muth as far as being put into detention for chewing gum, that doesn’t seem like an offense that merits detention. When I went to the legislatures website and read through the bill it says the student will be removed when they seriously interfere with the ability of the teacher to teach and the other students to learn. Chewing gum is not that serious of an action. I would imagine that these kids being put into detention are the serious disruptive students.
Again I ask of all of you read the bills please. They are available for all to see. Again Mr. Muth the bill is for middle school and junior high athletic programs, and not high school as you seem insistent to proclaim. It is an optional fee that the parents must pay. If your child wants to play a middle school sport, and if the parent chooses pay then the child can play the sport. It’s not a fee that we all must pay. I would like to see more kids getting involved, the lessons learned through organized sports, and the discipline instilled is wonderful.
As far as the detention goes, I sat through classes where other kids were disruptive. I know how difficult it is to learn when you had that distraction going on. If parents were hit with fees I think a lot of kids will be settling down. This fee is to be paid by only the parent of the child that is being disruptive. Mr. Muth as far as being put into detention for chewing gum, that doesn’t seem like an offense that merits detention. When I went to the legislatures website and read through the bill it says the student will be removed when they seriously interfere with the ability of the teacher to teach and the other students to learn. Chewing gum is not that serious of an action. I would imagine that these kids being put into detention are the seriously disruptive students. I feel that this would go a long way to making the classroom more condusive to positive learning.
Vance,
For some reason my comments to you did not post earlier.
The Seanate Bill (SB485?) that you referred to had 2 sections
Section 1 says local boards can establish a fee for organized sports programs and allows the board to make allowances for parents with financial hardships (one concern I have is this could apply to regular PE and not only extra-curricula activities)- it is not limited to middle or junior high schools;
Section 2 appropriates $240,000 (working off memory here) for middle and junior high pilto program run by NIAA (again, working off memory).