High School Announces Emergency Job Cuts after Spending Millions on Athletic Facilities

[OldSchoolLion]

Anything wrong with this picture?

The Crosby Texas school district, located in the Houston metro area, just announced mid-year, emergency job cuts as a result of a financial crisis.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Crosby-layoff-dozens-of-teachers-amid-financial-13309907.php

Crosby, TX, is crazy for high school football and their Cougars have won 53 games over the past 5 years

Crosby head football coach Jeff Riordan makes $119,609 per year, approximately $5k per year more than the school principal(according to the Houston newspaper). 

Here is a drone view of the Crosby stadium, built in 2016.  Not bad, huh?  Seats 10,000.

https://abc13.com/sports/skydrone13-crosby-isds-beautiful-cougar-stadium/4422894/

Also in 2016, they built a baseball/softball complex for $10.9million.

http://www.durotechgc.com/educationk12-beseballfieldcomplex/portfolioservice?type=sports

[DarterBlue2]

16 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

Anything wrong with this picture?

The Crosby Texas school district, located in the Houston metro area, just announced mid-year, emergency job cuts as a result of a financial crisis.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Crosby-layoff-dozens-of-teachers-amid-financial-13309907.php

Crosby, TX, is crazy for high school football and their Cougars have won 53 games over the past 5 years

Crosby head football coach Jeff Riordan makes $119,609 per year, approximately $5k per year more than the school principal(according to the Houston newspaper). 

Here is a drone view of the Crosby stadium, built in 2016.  Not bad, huh?  Seats 10,000.

https://abc13.com/sports/skydrone13-crosby-isds-beautiful-cougar-stadium/4422894/

Also in 2016, they built a baseball/softball complex for $10.9million.

http://www.durotechgc.com/educationk12-beseballfieldcomplex/portfolioservice?type=sports

Pretty much everything is wrong with this picture.

Sports, like many other extracurricular activities, are important, very important. But they must take a backseat to the true purpose of a school which is to provide an education to the students that will enable them to be productive, thoughtful adults.  

[Jags904]

I’m dumbfounded at the recklessness of the school district. I’d have required total private funding for the facilities. 

Also, in no way, should a HS football coach make more than the principal. His job is very important (top 5 in the school in many cases) but the principal is number 1 and it’s not really close. 

[Coach]

11 hours ago, Jags904 said:

I’m dumbfounded at the recklessness of the school district. I’d have required total private funding for the facilities. 

Also, in no way, should a HS football coach make more than the principal. His job is very important (top 5 in the school in many cases) but the principal is number 1 and it’s not really close. 

From what I understand, a lot of these big stadiums are funded by taxes the residents of these communities. And the residents do this because they want them. The people in charge of these districts just shrug their shoulders and say "If that's how the people want to spend their money, let them."

I can't imagine anything like this ever happening in Florida. Thank goodness, too, because if I had to lose my job because the District blew all of our cash and realized after the fact that they couldn't afford it I would go crazy. I feel for the people who lost jobs because of this. And, of course, the kids. They'll end up suffering for it too. 

[Jags904]

2 hours ago, Coach said:

From what I understand, a lot of these big stadiums are funded by taxes the residents of these communities. And the residents do this because they want them. The people in charge of these districts just shrug their shoulders and say "If that's how the people want to spend their money, let them."

I can't imagine anything like this ever happening in Florida. Thank goodness, too, because if I had to lose my job because the District blew all of our cash and realized after the fact that they couldn't afford it I would go crazy. I feel for the people who lost jobs because of this. And, of course, the kids. They'll end up suffering for it too. 

The real issue is they pay for these massive stadiums but it needs a full grounds crew to maintain. All for what, 5 games? It’s insanity to me and I’m a huge HS football fan (obviously).

I am not in the classroom, thank the Lord for that, but I’d be about ready to kill someone if I lost my job because of this. 

[OldSchoolLion]

15 hours ago, Jags904 said:

The real issue is they pay for these massive stadiums but it needs a full grounds crew to maintain. All for what, 5 games? It’s insanity to me and I’m a huge HS football fan (obviously).

I am not in the classroom, thank the Lord for that, but I’d be about ready to kill someone if I lost my job because of this. 

 

18 hours ago, Coach said:

From what I understand, a lot of these big stadiums are funded by taxes the residents of these communities. And the residents do this because they want them. The people in charge of these districts just shrug their shoulders and say "If that's how the people want to spend their money, let them."

I can't imagine anything like this ever happening in Florida. Thank goodness, too, because if I had to lose my job because the District blew all of our cash and realized after the fact that they couldn't afford it I would go crazy. I feel for the people who lost jobs because of this. And, of course, the kids. They'll end up suffering for it too. 

..not to mention all of the indoor practice facilities that have been built in Texas.

"According to the National Council on School Facilities, Texas school districts owe $13,297 per student on their long-term debt, the third-highest in the nation."

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2016/12/09/texas-high-school-footballs-latest-arms-race-multimillion-dollar-indoor-practice-facilities

 

[Cjm04]

Most of the huge stadiums are used for many other events.  Remember, Texas school districts are based on city limits.  So what they are essentially building is city stadiums.  Some of the cities build them and use them for multiple schools.

[OldSchoolLion]

4 hours ago, Cjm04 said:

Most of the huge stadiums are used for many other events.  Remember, Texas school districts are based on city limits.  So what they are essentially building is city stadiums.  Some of the cities build them and use them for multiple schools.

That's a good point.  Crosby High is the only high school in their school district. 

[OldSchoolLion]

Crosby High has a "B-" academic rating..."According to state test scores, 69% of students are at least proficient in math and 60% in reading."  40% of the kids are not proficient at reading, but boy they sure got some nice stadiums.