187 replies to this topic

[Chad Vander Veen]

Yc,

I'll be the first to acknowledge I do not know any of the details of this situation. It has been my experience here in Folsom that if there is a child who wants to participate in any program, ( music, sports, arts etc) and their family truly does not have the resources to pay for that child to participate in that program, that the communiuty of Folsom will find away to allow this child to participate.

I suspect that the music boosters probably has some sort of support program for children that truly can not afford to pay the fees. These friends and neighbors of ours are not going to put forth the effort they do for this program and then exclude achild because that child's parents can not afford the fees! Good people who volunteer for great programs don't do this!

I suspect there is another issue here!

Agreed, I suspect this woman is a ________________________________ !
(fill in what ever you feel is appopriate)

[folsom500]

Agreed, I suspect this woman is a ________________________________ !
                                                (fill in what ever you feel is appopriate)

And- considering that she now has no children in the school system any longer-
What took her so long ? ?

[ratlab]

I love when people can't settle their issues privately and start lawsuits. Class-action, no less. What better way to not look greedy than to start a class-action. Heck, when it's a class-action you're looking out for other people. You know, "for the kids".

Don't the originators of a class-action usually get the largest piece of the settlement?

[bishmasterb]

I hate to ask a stupid question, but, how much money were the boosters asking for?

[Young Curmudgeon]

And- considering that she now has no children in the school system any longer-
What took her so long ? ?

If I understood the story correctly, she recently received the "invoices."

[EDF]

These folks aren't hurting I don't think... they own some property over off of Inwood on a half acre lot...

so it looks to me like she's just another stinking money grubbing wack job that thinks she can rip off the rest of us...

I guess she didn't feel her little beasties got there money's worth then.. did they...?

Everyone has know for years that school funding has been supplemented by us parents and taxpayers...

When my little monsters were at Oak Chan... man o man the PTA was always having bake sales... book sales... whatever to drum up money for the school... I believe it was the parents that provided a lot of the funding for the overhang outside of the multi-purpose room years ago so the kids could eat outside without having to sit in the hot sun....

Donna Kinsella.. should be ashamed.. "big time"... I would be ashamed of her if she was my mother.... I wonder how her kids feel about this...

It begs the question that I'm sure we have all asked ourselves...

WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES THESE PEOPLE TICK...?

[FolsomBarb]

deleted by author

[puppylover]

.. I wonder how her kids feel about this...

I feel very sorry for her 2 kids who will be at the high school next year. They both were in the Sutter/Folsom Middle Jazz band and her son still is this year. He is a very nice young man from the times I have seen him with my son. I am sure he is very embarrassed by his confrontational mother. I hope other kids don't make it hard for them but I have a feeling they will.

[skippypeanutbutter]

I'd also like to add that people in general, not just the Boosters, are very helpful when it comes to someone in a tight financial situation. There are so many people willing to help that it's ridiculous to act as if there's no way a child couldn't participate due to a lack of money. I've had many situations where somehow, someway I was short some money and plenty of people offered to loan or help out.

People like her disgust me. I have plenty of friends involved in the music program and I can already imagine their heartbreak if this program were somehow discontinued.

[zach5]

I hate to ask a stupid question, but, how much money were the boosters asking for?

Part of it depends on how many events/field trips the student decides to go on. IE: Disneyland for Orchestra

[ducky]

I certainly hope nobody blames her children for any of this. It seems to me they are merely pawns.

My hope is that she finds herself in a very lonely class-action lawsuit and the whole thing is dropped before any real damage is done.

[tessieca]

What does Folsom have them pay?

For orchestra I think we paid $50-60. Then, the kids still do fundraising activities to offset the bill for the Disneyland trip.

My question: if successful with such a lawsuit, this will have farther reaching effects. The district itself (not a booster organization) asks parents for money for field trips. Will they have to be canceled? What about sports activities that are funded by donations, dues, fundraisers?

[valdossjoyce]

bishmasterb and ahnold, you guys just crackkk meee uppp!

But seriously, the woman has a point, but they way she raised it is deplorable.

For those who say greed, she'll "take the money": the plaintiffs in class actions get almost nothing. It's the lawyers who make out. The whole idea is that all these many, many people with little teeny tiny claims would never sue but for the class action. They throw their cases together and get certified as a "class", the defendant can be made to pay damages for all of them (whether they even know they're in the class or not) and then has to pay the classes' attorney's fees! It's a smart mechanism for those little screwings we get everyday that just arent' big enough to pursue.

My guess is that she either thrives on the publicity (casting herself as the protector of rights) OR her lawyer is a family member.....

If the "invoices" were deceptive, they should have been changed. I seriously doubt the good folks involved in Boosters meant to deceive or strong-arm the well-heeled, SUV(or B-mer) driving, nail-saloned, body-toned suburbanite moms of Folsom...This would be far more palatable if it was brought by a single inner city mom working for minimum wage. Just my 2 cents.

[Terry]

If the "invoices" were deceptive, they should have been changed.  I seriously doubt the good folks involved in Boosters meant to deceive or strong-arm the well-heeled, SUV(or B-mer) driving, nail-saloned, body-toned suburbanite moms of Folsom...

First of all I absolutely do not agree with nor support this woman's stance. Shame on her.

But, I do have an issue with "invoices" that are misleading, particularly if they tend to play on emotions of the recipient. Has anyone pledged to the local KVIE 6 PBS television station recently? Twenty or more years ago, I made what I thought was a fairly generous pledge to KVIE during one of their pledge drives. I received a coupon book for my 10 or 12 payments to be made over about a year period. I completed payment in full of my original pledged amount exactly as agreed upon. About two months after I completed payment on that pledge, I received an envelope in the mail with my name/address in red ink with a PO box as a return address and large lettering on the front of the envelope that said PAST DUE NOTICE! Being the very conscientious, responsible individual I am, I was so embarrassed to have my letter carrier think I was a deadbeat. At any rate, I opened this envelope and found an "invoice" for my pledge RENEWAL, indicating that KVIE expected me to renew my pledge immediately and because they had the expectation that I would just continue with my periodic payments of the past pledge, I was then "PAST DUE".

Needless to say, that was one of the few times when I became absolutely furious and wrote what probably amounted to a ranting, raving response to KVIE telling them that for the rest of my life I would never even consider giving them a dime! I've stuck by that promise. I'm curious if they've changed their methods/tactics. I still can't find it in me to support them even to this day.

I'm not sure this woman's problem with the Booster Club is as a result of similar tactics, but certainly legal action doesn't seem to be the avenue to take. I'm guessing the Booster Club is somewhat blindsided by this. Too bad.