Bloggers Note: Things have been a little busy so I haven't had time to finish this despite pledging to do just that. Thanks for being patient.
After all the frustration Calvin and his wife, Gloria had with Ms. Shrill, the cheerleading coach, Calvin thought there might be a solution to their problem. He knew Joe Powers who was in a community group with Calvin. In fact, Joe was the president of the group. Calvin did not know many people who were as respected as Joe. Joe was a master at developing a consensus among others and putting in place an effective plan that would be used and made to work.
Joe's wife was a longtime staff member at the Needsville High School.
Calvin explained to Joe the problem that he faced. The fact that he spent all this money and if one did the math and multiplied 26 families giving all that money, the sum that Ms. Shrill was receiving was over $30,000! Joe was alarmed about that amount of money being raised.
Joe decided to help Calvin by talking to the athletic director. He stated that there was an awful lot of money raised by the parents. Did that alarm the director? The athletic director shrugged and said booster clubs are not regulated. When Cindy became a cheerleader, Gloria and Calvin were automatically considered to be part of the Cheerleading Boosters. As long as there wasn't much dissent and it wasn't organized, then Ms. Shrill could raise just as much as she wanted to.
Calvin had spent a whole evening one night writing and calculating the math of how much each parent gave, how much the parents raised for fundraisers and, in turn, the total amount of money they collectively raised. They raised over $30,000. Then he compared how much money, time and effort went into helping out Arthur who was in football. Where him and his wife spent well over $1,000 for Cindy's cheerleading, they spent about $900 for Arthur being in football from 4th grade to senior in high school. It averaged out to be $100 per year!
The next time Joe and Calvin got together, Joe relayed the disappointing conversation he had with the athletic director. Calvin asked him a couple questions, but it was very clear that there was nothing he could do. The only thing he could do with all the facts and figures he had was to use them if Ms. Shrill wanted Cindy back to cheerlead in her sophomore year. Cindy was getting tired of all the demands Ms. Shrill and her assistants made on her and her teammates. They wanted far too much. Calvin became very hopeful that they wouldn't go through the nightmare of fund raising that occurred this past year. If Ms. Shrill pressed for Cindy to join a few months from now, Calvin would have all the facts and figures to fire at her and send to her in an email. He was going to make demands. He was going to make Ms. Shrill wish she'd never met Calvin. Unfortunately, he was a "voice in the wilderness". He heard of no parent who agreed with him or who wanted to challenge Ms. Shrill. All he could do is conclude that it was another expensive venture involving his daughter. As much as his daughter expected out of Gloria and him, it wouldn't be the last expensive venture. Calvin thought of his parents. They would never, ever considered getting themselves involved in a situation like he did. They would have just pulled him out of that. He might have been angry with them, but they were right. There's so many other places to spend your money!
