Remember my complaining about my youngest son's trips

[DawnM]

(Update #10)

 

and how much they cost (DC is $600 and Scout trip is over $1500, which he has chosen DC so no scout trip this year.)

 

Well, last night I went to my middle son's Men's Chorus parent meeting.  WOW.  $170 for the tux for performances, he also needs new shoes, black leather.

 

Several state performances with costs between $50-$100 each, plus stopping for food.

 

And a trip to San Francisco for $2200 in April for Spring Break.  They will perform at Golden Gate Park, a cathedral (Grace maybe?), go to Stanford for something (practice with college students or something, can't remember) and sightsee.

 

Oh, and fund raising dinners at our local country club for $100 per plate.

 

And yes, this is public school.

 

All in all, if we were to do everything, it would be upwards of $3500.  

 

We are in negotiations with son to figure this out.  

 

The only mandatory things are the Tux, shoes, and a few performances.  Those would all be under $1000 total would be my guess.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2017 by DawnM

[Laura Corin]

Does it have to be their tux?  I bought a cheap tux online for Calvin to sing in a choir.  It's held up fine and he still wears it three years later.

[DawnM]

Does it have to be their tux?  I bought a cheap tux online for Calvin to sing in a choir.  It's held up fine and he still wears it three years later.

 

Yup, they have to match.

[Laura Corin]

Yup, they have to match.

 

Oh dear.  Is he still growing?  Will he get use out of it?

[Elizabeth86]

Yikes.

[Valley Girl]

How do schools justify these kinds of costs? Expecting parents to pony up for expensive trips such as this one is ridiculous, especially if it's feel-good vs. required for advancing in some national competition. What would the organizers do if parents said "No, we cannot afford this kind of thing"? What about talented kids whose families struggle to pay bills as it is? Or even kids whose families theoretically "can" afford it (based on someone else's standard) but want/need to direct their dollars elsewhere?

[fairfarmhand]

Is there a Booster Organization?

 

Because that's nuts. I'd have to pull my kid out. There's no way we could spend that much money on it.

 

What's sad is that talented kids won't even try because they'll know they can't afford it. I wouldn't have even asked my parents about that kind of thing because I knew what the answer would be.

[J-rap]

Wow, I can't imagine.  

 

Our kids were involved in extra-curricular activities at our ps that required formal dresses and tuxes for the choir, music events and tours, and fundraisers.

 

The formal dresses and tuxes were paid for by the school district.  They just had a lot of sizes on-hand and kids wore (borrowed for the year) whichever ones were closest to their sizes.  A tailor was hired by the school to come in during the yearly "try-on" day who then measured and pinned outfits in case anything needed to be altered.  Any work the tailor did was paid for by the school.  No cost to students.  Black shoes were required, but any black shoes were fine -- even just borrowing old black shoes from the school's drama club costume room.

 

All special music events/festivals/competitions were paid for by the school, with the only exception being the yearly tour.  The director made sure to keep costs of the every-other-year-tour down to around $600.  The tours were always amazing though -- generally trips to NYC (by bus) where they performed but also ate out a couple times and saw a Broadway musical.

 

Fundraisers were made affordable.  Dinners would be around $20, and that was probably the top price for anything in any fundraiser.

 

This is not a school in a wealthy area at all.  It is a small town where many people live on a low income.

 

How do students on a low-income (let alone a middle class income!) participate in your public school?

 

 

Edited September 6, 2017 by J-rap

[creekland]

Wow, I can't imagine.  

 

Our kids were involved in extra-curricular activities at our ps that required formal dresses and tuxes for the choir, music events and tours, and fundraisers.

 

The formal dresses and tuxes were paid for by the school district.  They just had a lot of sizes on-hand and kids wore (borrowed for the year) whichever ones were closest to their sizes.  A tailor was hired by the school to come in during the yearly "try-on" day who then measured and pinned outfits in case anything needed to be altered.  Any work the tailor did was paid for by the school.  No cost to students.  Black shoes were required, but any black shoes were fine -- even just borrowing old black shoes from the school's drama club costume room.

 

All special music events/festivals/competitions were paid for by the school, with the only exception being the yearly tour.  The director made sure to keep costs of the every-other-year-tour down to around $600.  The tours were always amazing though -- generally trips to NYC (by bus) where they performed but also ate out a couple times and saw a Broadway musical.

 

Fundraisers were made affordable.  Dinners would be around $20, and that was probably the top price for anything in any fundraiser.

 

This is not a school in a wealthy area at all.  It is a small town where many people live on a low income.

 

How do students on a low-income (let alone a middle class income!) participate in your public school?

 

My school is far more like yours - and I'll admit I'm glad of that.  I always support fundraisers knowing they are going to these sorts of extracurriculars and most families can't afford the cost.

 

I feel for students in districts where only the wealthy or upper middle class can do things.  It's not right.  Not in a public school.

[DawnM]

Found out there are only 200 slots for the San Francisco trip.  There are about 350-400 students.  So, that definitely shows me that they don't expect everyone to attend.  Band and chorus are invited.....band is HUGE at the school, but chorus is relatively "newly popular" if that makes sense.

 

DH and I talked last night, and while the trip would be fun, a great experience, etc.....we are not sure this year is the best for that.  We are going to sit him down and explain that if he really wants to go, he has to make some changes in his own spending, including taking his own lunch to school.

 

But ultimately, what we are seeing from him is a "yeah, that would be cool but I don't care enough about it to be passionate about it" and for that, we don't spend $2200.

 

We are facing some huge expenses soon......two in college next year, possibly 2 households for 6 months while we move, etc......(and, since we are moving to California.....he will just have to settle for a non-singing San Fran trip sometime down the road.)

Edited September 7, 2017 by DawnM