I want to start this week with a positive post and our experience Friday evening at the HHS performance of Little Shop of Horrors is the perfect subject for such a post!

After dinner I ushered the kids off to the high school to see the play.  We talked about the play as we drove because I knew some of the subject matter could be a little scary.  Plus my kids absolutely love the dentist and I didn’t want to ruin that

We got to the high school early so we could get our tickets and make the obligatory bathroom trip and get dessert at the concession stand.  For three people to see a live show and have snacks for under $30 total I consider this a bargain on top of being a lot of fun.  We stopped at all the tables and my daughter is confused by the selling of carnations.  I keep telling her they are to buy to give to the performers after the play as a way of saying “good job” but she just wants to get one and take it home.  Dr Buchanan arrived shortly after we did and to my kids he’s a local celebrity so they made sure to wave and say hello and ask him a dozen questions about nothing in particular.

The play was fantastic.  The young lady who played Audrey has a wonderful singing voice and played her part very well.  Some you tube videos can be found here.  The gentleman who played Seymour did a fantastic job as well – and I remembered him from his equally impressive job as Scrooge in the HHS version of A Christmas Carol.  The gentleman who played Audrey’s boyfriend, the dentist, had my children so utterly convinced that he was a mean guy that we had to stop after the show and see him and say hello.  He couldn’t have been more gracious in taking the time to talk to them and thank them for coming and he apologized for scaring them.  All of the performers did a wonderful job and my kids stopped a few of them to tell them so.  I really want to give credit to those students for all taking a minute to say hello and thanks for coming to two little kids they didn’t know who stopped them out of the blue.

The work done with the set was also very good.  The four versions of Audrey Two were well made.  The audience enjoyed the dancing plant when Audrey Two was small enough to be carried around by Seymour.  The big versions were quite convincing to my kids – they were very concerned about the people who were eaten.  I kept trying to explain to them that they were really giant puppets.  Thankfully at the end of the show when everyone took their bows the people who were inside the plant came out and that ended the whole debate about the puppet plant.

The one wish I have for the performances is better attendance.  I think the house was about half full when we were there Friday.  I wonder if sending home notices of upcoming performances to the kids in the lower grades would help?  Generally I don’t see the articles in the paper until the very last minute and by then I often have other things happening.  These plays are a great way to get kids excited about going to live performances and about attending HHS.  While talking about the scenery before the play, I mentioned they could be in the drama group when they got to high school.  Each one thought a different aspect of the performance was more for them.  My daughter wants to sing and get dressed up and my son likes building things.  Both of them were asking if this school was the one they would be going to and what else could they do there.  We had a wonderful discussion about extra curricular activities and high school.

Thanks again for the great performance, the night out and the opportunity to discuss school and the future with my kids.

From the newspaper:

Haverhill High students will present the musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” March 25 through 27.

In this popular spoof on 1950s horror and sci-fi movies, a hapless florist shop worker raises a plant resembling a Venus’ flytrap, which feeds on human blood. He names it Audrey II in honor of his coworker, Audrey, who he secretly has a crush on.

…

Performances, in the high school auditorium at 137 Monument St., are March 25 and 26 at 7 p.m. and March 27 at 1 and 7 p.m.

Tickets are $8 and $5 for students and senior citizens, and are on sale at the high school during all lunches and will be available at the door.

We had an amazing time when we took the kids to see the HHS performance of “A Christmas Carol” so I am looking forward to fitting in time next weekend to take the kids for this show as well.

At the forum on September 30^th one of the questions posed to the candidates was: Sports Fees have reached the level where they have become a barrier to some students participating.  Would you vote to reduce them? Why or Why Not?

The question is silly to me, no one wants sport fees.  No one on the current School Committee wants sports fees.  No one in the Athletic Department wants sports fees.  In a Utopian society there would be no sports fees.  You can vote to reduce them but where does the money come from?  Do we fire a teacher?  Incur a lawsuit because a Sped mandate is ignored?  A better question would have been: In light of the economy requiring the Athletic Department to charge sports fees how would you help students overcome this hurdle to expand their participation in sports.  I found the candidate responses disheartening.

Mr Deroche doesn’t want sports fees because he didn’t have to pay any when he played sports in High School.  There were a lot of things that were different when we were in High School.  That’s not a basis for how things need to be done today, in today’s economy and reflecting today’s needs.

Mr Sierpina wishes there were a split between what the student pays and what the school pays.  This split already exists.  In sitting at the budget meetings I listened to former Athletic Director Peter Shanahan discuss how he needed to use the sports fees to close the gap in his budget between what it costs to run the athletics program and what he receives in dollars from the School Department.

Ms Hetel wants the fees to be affordable.  She sited a young man who complained about paying $800 to play hockey.  That $800 is misleading.  Hockey is the most expensive sport to play that is available for our students but the maximum in sports fees he could pay for that sport is $525 – expensive but far less than the $800 stated.  Individual sport fees for sports that require busing are $275 with an additional $250 possible for hockey because of the exorbitant cost of rink fees.  The city charges the school department a reduced rate for ice time.  I’m sure that young man mentioned above has had to purchase equipment for himself along the way but the equipment is then his to keep.

Sports fees are also reduced or eliminated for students who qualify.  There is a form available on the HHS website and I am sure they have print forms as well.  The various booster clubs host fundraisers already to reduce sports fees for the students.  A concert over the summer at Haverhill Stadium is just one recent example of the community working for our students.

A comment was made about students who play multiple sports.  There is a per child max sports fee for the year of $600 and a per family max of $800.  This is explained on the parent permission form all students must have completed before they can play any sport.

We talk a lot about sports fees and how unfair they are but the reality is playing any sport is expensive.  When you factor in maintenance of the playing area, equipment, uniforms, coaches and busing the price tag rises quickly.  What I’ve often wondered is why it took so long to institute these fees in the first place!  We forget that every extracurricular activity the students undertake costs money.  Band kids have been paying fees for years.  They own or rent their instruments at their own expense, band also requires uniforms and travel expenses.  Being a member of the National Honor Society requires dues be paid.  Theatre students scour yard sales and thrift shops to make their own costumes and props.  Unfortunately these students are often overlooked because society considers sports a right of passage for young people but other extracurricular activities as a privilege.  Sports fees are merely leveling the playing field of financial burden.