Simple solution. School is for school. Period. If you want your kids to be in sports do it on your own time and your own dime. Taxpayer funding should be used to teach the kids not entertain them.

Physical education IS part of school curriculum. You can't cherry-pick this stuff. You may not think sports is a subject worth teaching, but it is. Sports, Arts, and Music are VITAL to a rounded character and future citizen, and in fact help students learn the "3 R's."

I am not an athlete by any stretch of anyone's imagination, but the lessons I learned on the field helped prepare me for life just as well as any other subject. And isn't that the point of sending a kid to school: to give them tools that will help them navigate life?

"And isn't that the point of sending a kid to school: to give them tools that will help them navigate life?"

Since when is it MY job give YOUR "kids" sports or reading, writing, and arithmetic? Taxes should go for the military, the police, the courts, and that's about it. I don't see anything about free public schools in the U.S. Constitution. The founding fathers would be turning over in their graves if they knew where tax dollars were going!

I support strong PE programs in the public school curriculum.

If, on the other hand, private sports clubs have rendered public school programs obsolete, then I see no need to keep them going for the sake of appearance.

School programs should, perhaps, focus on physical fitness while private sports clubs provide specialized training.

Of course, there would need to be an effective system to address the needs of talented kids who may not be able to afford membership in the private clubs.

There might also be merit to exploring some kind of tie-up between the district and private clubs.

Mike

I should have been more clear -- PE is a school requirement and I think it should be. Most kids today are glued to their phones and TVs and need to get their lazy rear ends moving once in a while. My dispute is with after school sports that are funded by tax money and are not a part of the school curriculum. That should all be pay to play.

"Since when is it MY job give YOUR "kids" sports or reading, writing, and arithmetic? Taxes should go for the military, the police, the courts, and that's about it."

Since when is it MY job to pay for YOUR police, military, and courts?

We're all taxpayers, and we all hate paying them. But we can't cherry pick just the one's we "approve of."

....you'll need those police and courts to deal with the kids we don't educate...

I fully support a FREE well-rounded education for all our youngsters that include arts, music, and PE, more so on the arts since we need to train a new generation of kids who can use their imagination and develop their thinking skills. The little investments we put into these kids will pay off for our country in the future. Afterall, who is going to fund YOUR social security retirement and medicare if kids today are not well educated? Even though I get taxed at nearly the highest bracket, thus supporting everything from free schools to employee pension and road maintenance, I still think it's worth every penny.

I strongly support FREE sports programs in all public schools.
i rest my case...

signed,

Cholo Pololo Mololo

I'm strongly against public schools.

If you can't afford children, Cholo, don't have them!

I think school sports are great. Not all parents can afford sports outside school and if they have kids that really want to play this is a good way.It is so expensive to play sports here in Pleasanton. It is also very competive but, I also do believe in team sport for they build on so many life skills. Just wish it didn't cost an arm and a leg!

To all who post here: Sports and school, like your FREEDOM is not FREE!

Children need to play to become healthy adults.

Play is always much healthier than starting a fight.

i rest my case...

Knowsfacts really doesn't know the facts about high school football. The reason you don't see freshman playing on the varsity football team has nothing to do with letting the "young men develope both PHYSICALLY and EMOTIONALLY". It has to do with a CIF rule that any player who plays VARSITY FOOTBALL must be at least 15 years of age. There are very few freshman who enter high school at 15 years old. If you are going to compare sports please don't compare apples and oranges.

High School sports is socialistic. So is public education. And public libraries, especially public libraries. So is a federal government. And public roads. And stop lights at busy intersections. I don't see anything in the Constitution about stop lights. I rest my case. Wake up people! Rue Paul for President, 2016

Sorry that's Rand Paul for president in 2016.

I think you had it right the first time.

Interesting that Privatize thinks the founding fathers 'would be turning over in their graves if they knew where tax dollars were going!'

These patriots-" Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both weighed in on the side of full support for educating the masses. Others who lived in the same era who also pushed for public education were Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Noah Webster, and Benjamin Rush."

Jefferson is quoted as saying that “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

Love the ironic posts from tea partiers who believe they represent the founding fathers, they need to review their history lessons!

Does anybody realize it's 'pay to play' unless you submit a hardship form. You also have to pay extra for transportation costs. Each sport also does fundraising to support itself, in addition to the boosters fundraising efforts to help pay the costs.

It is NOT 'pay to play' at Foothill. It is a voluntary donation, and last year several families chose not to 'donate' which has left some sports programs in financial jeopardy. Amador chooses to ignore the district guidelines for voluntary donations. Coaches are not allowed to be aware of who has donated, yet Amador somehow keeps track of that information as well. Perhaps it is time for the district to start investigating why there are two very different approaches to the funding of high school sports at both high schools?

Is there any guideline between club and high school soccer? Rumor has it that AV girls soccer player and coaches wear all club gear at tryouts and practice----no school colors to be found. And AV has a D1 club coach as their varsity head coach to run the program, so players never get a break from club politics. Arent you glad your tax dollars support the soccer clubs too now?
Glad we are at FOOTHILL!

Get Educated,

I loved when you said this >>> "Love the ironic posts from tea partiers who believe they represent the founding fathers, they need to review their history lessons!"

Apparently you forgot the rest of the quote "If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."

Web Link

Took all of one second to yahoo! that.

And lo' and behold, your sanctimonious swipe at the tea partiers is only made more ludicrous by the fact that the quote has not been verified to have come from Jefferson, but instead MAY have come from Ronald Reagan!

Simply and ironically DELICIOUS!

Hey Get Educated, go GET EDUCATED!

Sincerely,

Dan

Wow Dan, an A for effort, but have to say, just 'Yahooing' a site isn't really going well for your point. Hilarious that you now believe it to be the original words of Ronald Reagan.

Actually, the quote is from a letter Jefferson wrote to Colonel Charles Yancey in 1816:

"I am a great friend to the improvements of roads, canals, and schools. But I wish I could see some provision for the former as solid as that of the latter, —something better than fog. The literary fund is a solid provision, unless lost in the impending bankruptcy. If the legislature would add to that a perpetual tax of a cent a head on the population of the State, it would set agoing at once, and forever maintain, a system of primary or ward schools, and an university where might be taught, in its highest degree, every branch of science useful in our time and country ; and it would rescue us from the tax of toryism, fanaticism, and indifferentism to their own State, which we now send our youth to bring from those of New England.

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves ; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe. "

Somehow, with all your effort, you missed the original point of my post- the founding fathers were very much for public education.

Get Educated,

Your initial quote was incomplete.

The full quote, as you posted, would have been a better way of communicating the founders beliefs.

I didn't miss your point, you just didn't make it initially.

Your reference to Tea Partiers is so knee-jerk that it almost shows a complete close-mindedness to any other views regarding public education. I know very good people who refuse to put their kids in public education for a variety of reasons and you know what? They're still good people.

Honestly, you sound like an entitled teacher. And your close-mindedness is exactly what we parents of public school children hate/fear the most in schools.

Sincerely,

Dan

Wow, this sure has gotten off topic. I never have posted on these but feel compelled. For those that believe your tax dollars are going to HS Sports you could not be further from the truth. I have "donated" $1000s of dollars for my kids to play HS sports. I think it is impt for kids to have an outlet. For some kids it is their motivation and keeps them active in all different aspects. Apparently, those that do not believe in hs sports have had perfect well-adjusted social kids that didn't need another outlet. I played sports in HS and college and would not change any of it. I do agree that sports are extremely political her in Pleasanton and it is quite sad. I thought that was the point of this topic not about political parties, etc. or quotes from our founding fathers. Not quite sure what that has to do with the topic of Freshmen playing on a Varsity team - which by the way I am not for at all. I do remember there was the same controversy a couple of years ago when Monte Vista had 9 freshman playing on their Varsity girls soccer team. However, they did back it up by winning NCS that year.

There are too many talented athletes in the EBAL schools for a school to focus on the frosh/soph age group. Would a club team allow U15s to play in U18s? Not like this--There are rules for that.
Pleasanton schools traits of discipline, character, self respect, etc... should come first for an athlete. coaches, and the athletic programs. Is this a winning at all costs mentality that has overtaken the focus on the competition of high school sports? Are coaches and schools no longer responsible for having integrity and developing the student athlete? And yes---I agree that tax dollars do support the athlete programs at schools with the fields and facilities used. The voluntary donations go towards coaches salaries and transportation.

Just so you know many of the coaches give there time and are not paid.

I agree in most cases freshman should play down on the freshman & JV teams.
One is so they get playing time the other is the age differences.

Not sure if I would want my Freshman girl hanging with some 18 year old Seniors.
Not that the SR are not great kids they are just in very different place in life.

My bigger concern with AV sports is the AD. It would appear if it is not baseball he could careless.

I would also like to understand what going on with the boys swim team this year.
This coach should be replaced after what happen last year on the trip to So Cal. I also have some concerns about his involvement with the Seahawk and other swim teams in Ptown.

One of the coaches primary responsibilities is to put the best team on the field. If that means older players get left off or lose playing time, and their parent's whine about it, so be it. It will prepare them for the rejection that real life may eventually throw their way, once they leave the bubble you have created for them.

To Lessismore- "I would also like to understand what going on with the boys swim team this year.
This coach should be replaced after what happen last year on the trip to So Cal. I also have some concerns about his involvement with the Seahawk and other swim teams in Ptown. "

What happened in SoCal last year?

To
Parent
You should ask the AD that question?

But there is no So Cal trip this year and all the boys who went were pulled in to the office one by one and questioned. Some even had there parents attend the meeting with them.

A coaches responsibility is to field the best team-----so how do you get to those decisions? A coaches main responsibility is to develop a substainable program---the varsity coach is overlooking 3 teams---and there are 50 underclassmen out of 61 players in AV girls soccer.
This is Pleasanton---soccer city USA-----this coach's club teams age group is the best Pleasanton has? Since he has a habit of cutting returning seniors----he must think the players peak at 15 years old.

Why are these Amador High School sports issues never resolved and have gone on for years? Now we have a team of freshman on varsity passing by older seniors for spots and someone has an issue. Something happned with the swim team that topically appears something changed, but basically still the same. The girls basketball coach had to be replaced for an inappropriate contact to one of the players. And the varsity basketball coach is known for only allowing players who participate in his own summer league or will not make the school team. What is this athletic director doing to allow so many issues? Maybe start with that person but something is being overlooked. It sounds like no one takes any initiave to fix this. Thank goodness my kids are in college now.

Dear "Get Educated"...
Did you happen to know that the level of education among the citizens was GREATER BEFORE EDUCATION MANDATORY by the government? Do your homework.

The "Father" of Public Schooling was Horace Mann...a socialist. He was so impressed with the Prussian (later German) method of mandatory schooling by the government that he proposed this system in the U.S. starting with the State of Massachusetts, which first adopted mandatory public schooling.

Mann and other public-school promoters imported three main ideas from the authoritarian Prussian schools.

1. The first was that the purpose of the State schooling was not intellectual training but the conditioning of children to obedience, subordination and the collective life. Rote memorization outranked thinking.

2. Second, whole ideas were broken into fragmented subjects and school days were divided into fixed periods, so that self-motivation to learn would be muted by ceaseless interruptions. In this manner, learning was deliberately disconnected and superficial. Students get few, if any, course in logic, thinking, creative problem-solving, integrating knowledge on different subjects or anything the ancient Greeks would call "true education." They rarely learn any subjects they can personally relate to. Is it any wonder that public-school classes bore so many children?

3. Third, the State was the true parent of children. Public schools were to increasingly usurp parents' job of raising and educating their children and teaching them moral values.

Mandatory public schooling in Massachusetts (1852) swept across other states in the next 50 years, despite the fact that literacy rates were already very high.

Compulsory public schools did not succeed without a fight. Almost 80 percent of the voters resisted compulsory education. In 1880, Massachusetts had to send its state militia to "persuade" the parents of Barnstable, on Cape Cod, to give up their children to the state schoolmasters.

For those of us who have been taught "some" history of Germany after the mid-1850s, we all know the fate of those Prussian school children. They became loyal and unquestioning foot-soldiers to Germany's infamous leader.

Sound familiar?

Amador has always been able to do what they like in terms if athletics. Foothill is held to a higher standard - which we have no problems reaching. Thank goodness for the admin team at foothill. Go falcons!

I think the Foothill comment is spot on. There is very little oversight of much of anything at Amador. The conflicts of interest run deep. I recently found out the tutoring company my students teacher has been pushing her to attend is owned by an AV teacher. Disgusting.

To parent
You should check your facts.
I will give one of many issues.

I was at a none high school swim meet last year sitting with some other parents and kids one of the kids was a female swimmer at Amador. The women's swim coach from Foothill walk over told her goods race then right in front of us started telling her she should transfer to Foothill and swim for her. This went on for about 5 minutes. I then told her who I was her very white face turn very red. I also told her if I very see that happen again I will report her to the district and the league.

Or should we discuss the display by your football cheerleaders a fews ago.

Amadors student athletes work hard and do a great job. The girls teams are rocking it this year.

PS I am also luck to know many of the student athletes at Foothill and they also are a great group of kids

So I looks like you are the one who needs to grow up and stop living in the past and get a life.

So what is the real issue here with the AV sports programs...specifically girls soccer? Are you upset and complaining about the process by which Gray selects his team(s), or the fact that "returning Seniors" are cut from the program? My guess is that those who are complaining are mothers or fathers of said "Senior" who got cut. Sports are about competition. They are not about making people happy or "doing the right thing" just because a girl might have been in the program for 3 years. Are you saying that, because a 14 year old Freshman might be twice the player of a 17 year old Senior that Gray should keep the Senior just because she is a Senior? Sure...that would make all the bubble-covering, coddling, politically correct, Suburban-driving mommies happy because little Dakota gets to wear the sweatsuit another year. But....it also stifles the 14 year old Freshman's progress, as well as the program's. Who cares what the girls, or the coach's for that matter, wear to tryouts?? Is that REALLY an issue for you? If it is, you must be the most petty person alive. As is always the case, until you have sat in Gray's, or any other High School coach's seat for a significant period of time, you will never know the true ins and outs of being a High School Coach. Trust me, very little of it has anything to do with "coaching". Of course, it is always very easy to sit back and judge from the comfort of the bleachers or sidelines when your name is not attached to it.

My dear Jack Rabbit--
I think you make it very clear that you don't know anything about competition. Sports are about knowing what game you are playing, and what the rules are, and how to win and succeed within those rules. All the while with this issue--, you are dealing with developing student athletes, and those under 18 years of age. This is NOT college level.
Do you see under 15 age girls playing on under 18 age groups on the club teams? Maybe once-- a very very special player, but not likely because of RULES. 18 year old girls do NOT want to hang out with numerous 14 year olds who don't have any credibility.
DO you see a player from a red club wearing a orange club jersey to the red club tryouts? NEVER!
Grey isnt following high school rules by allowing club attire at high school, promoting his own club teams players and interests, not being able to deal with students over the age of 16 that can have an independent thought, plus all the other issues people have brought up over the last 4 plus years-------so no wonder so many people say that he is disqualified to be in the game of high school coaching. Get him out of there. He has gotten too many red cards.

@ Turtle-

As with everything, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, including you and I.

That said....you don't know me. You would be hard pressed to find another individual in the Bay Area who knows more about competition than do I. I played D1 college soccer. I coached youth competitive soccer for over 20 years. I coached Varsity High School soccer for over 20 years. I think I DO know what competition means...just a little bit. What's more...I DO know of the issues of high school girls...and boys...and DO know what it means to be in charge of a High School program.....do you? No need to answer.

You seem to be all caught up in "RULES"...as you capitalize several times. Gee Mr. Rule follower...let me enlighten you. There are NO "RULES" that say you can't wear orange to a "red" team's tryouts. NONE. Never has been. Never will be. Why? Because, UNTIL teams are officially announced and formed, you cannot place a restriction on what POTENTIAL team members can wear to a tryout. Duh. And...furthermore, yes, this is NOT college. It also is NOT Club. This is what makes high school so intriguing and fun..for those who appreciate it. It gives the 14 year old the opportunity to play ABOVE where he or she has played their entire life, with older and better players. This, most people know. PROGRESSES the 14 year old considerably and gives them incredbile experience that vaults their game immeasurably. You like my capital letters Mr. Rules?? It's really fun.

You crack me up dude. All caught up in what the girls are wearing to tryouts. Are you the fashion police? LOLLLLL. Of all the issues dealt with in soccer, politics, etc etc..you are most concerned about the attire. Says a lot about YOUR knowledge of competition. I'll leave it at that.

If you don't like GRAY....(notice the spelling-jeez...how long has your daughter played for him and you still can't spell his name right)....then go coach yourself. Or is that not an option because you don't have the credentials to do so? Yeah..thought so. You are just like the other Starbuck's drinkers on the sidelines that wants to bitch and complain, but not try to do anything to help the situation.

And just so you know...when someone is not qualified to do a job...it does not mean they are "disqualified". LOL. Disqualified refers to what happens to you when you cheat in a race...on a test..etc. The word is unqualified. You're welcome.

Once again....all of these so-called "many" people who have complained about Gray for so long....have any of them ever coached a High School program? No need to answer.