Texas high school 60 milliion dollar stadium not what it's cracked up to be.

[Mazeppa]

http://msn.foxsports.com/southwest/story/texas-high-school-s-60-million-football-stadium-has-extensive-cracking-022714

[Soonerwake]

That's almost ridiculous. Almost...

[tycat947]

Typical Texas! Show's where their priorities are!

[EatLeadCommie]

probably the North Texas clay soil and the fracking earthquakes.

[Ruf/Nek7]

Built it too fast.

[Widescreen]

My tax dollars are paying for that thing. Their pride/ego got way ahead of their need. Allen's old stadium was terrible and they needed a new one but they didn't need the Taj Mahal of high school stadiums. I'm still irritated about that.

[badger]

Sooo... did the builder give lots of kickbacks and do a half-effort job, or was this a case of building a monster faster than a monster should be built

Of course, these guys are the reigning 5A Texas state champs, so I fully expect more money to get plunked down to make their monster happy

[BajaOklahoma]

It works out to 3.4 million/month it has been open.
It's kinda funny how little sympathy there is for them - jealousy for their success on the field and anger at how they've spent the Robin Hood money they've collected.

[ashley]

How did they spend their Robin Hood money?

[Mazeppa]

Like this?

http://i62.tinypic.com/2v2y6x0.jpg

[badger]

How did they spend their Robin Hood money?

Wait, I thought Robin Hood was outlawed in Texas because it was effectively an income tax, which was barred by Texas constitution?

You're referring to the money that was passed from rich districts to poor school districts, correct?

[lexsooner]

My brother lives in the area and he said Allen has refused to start new high schools in the district, like an Edmond North or Plano West, because Allen wants to concentrate its foobow talent all in one school. That's fine for their players and boosters, but what about the other students and parents with academic priorities who have to put up with larger class sizes and fewer resources per student? I would like to see a longitudinal study of their star foobowlers vs. star students, like 20 years in the future, and see who amounted to what. I love football, but we're talking about kids and their futures, so I just don't get their priorities.

[hvhurricane]

When I first moved down here, I was amazed at how much money each school spends on athletics. Most of the coaches get paid six figures and they don't even have to teach a class. That is why you see OK coaches do whatever they can to get a Texas job. When I was in HS, our head coach got one extra period off during the season and got something like $5K as a stipend for coaching the team.

[Zing]

My brother lives in the area and he said Allen has refused to start new high schools in the district, like an Edmond North or Plano West, because Allen wants to concentrate its foobow talent all in one school. That's fine for their players and boosters, but what about the other students and parents with academic priorities who have to put up with larger class sizes and fewer resources per student? I would like to see a longitudinal study of their star foobowlers vs. star students, like 20 years in the future, and see who amounted to what. I love football, but we're talking about kids and their futures, so I just don't get their priorities.

I went to high school in Allen and graduated in the early 2000's. Landed a full ride (plus some) to OU on music and academic scholarship, graduated with a degree in physics, and matched my first choice of medical residencies after med school. My classes in high school were harder than my first 3 semesters at OU, and covered just about the same material. More, in fact. In Allen, I learned a foreign language, three programming languages, two musical instruments, plus boatloads of math and science. The friends I hung out with in high school are now in graduate school at MIT, Stanford, and Ohio State, lead producers at major video game companies, professional musicians who attended and graduated from Juilliard, or successful chemical and mechanical engineers.

Allen schools are very strong, they have great teachers, and produce some fantastic students. Part of that bill was also to pay for a fine arts center, so I'd say that their priorities are on track. If an extremely wealthy area like that wants to dump ridiculous amounts of money on a football stadium, more power to them.

...And I know that probably came across as a bit braggy, but that wasn't my intention and hope that it isn't taken as such. You asked what sorts of students Allen produces. Well, there you go. And, of course, take the above with a grain of salt, because this "study" has a sample size of about eight.

--edit--

All that having been said, I'm not moving back. I'd seriously consider it, because raising kids in a place like Allen as I experienced it would be fantastic, but it's just not worth the traffic anymore. I'll hang out in OKC for a while.

[Widescreen]

Zing, your story falls in line with my long-standing philosophy that high school is what you make of it. You got a ton out of it because you chose to. Just because you went to Allen didn't mean you would automatically have good grades, excel in college and be successful.

I live in Allen. My nephew graduated from there last May. He's now at a community college on a baseball scholarship and he's nearly flunking out. It's become apparent to his parents that he never really learned how to study while at Allen and he's paying a price for that now. Because of the way things work there, he barely had to attend class his senior year. Maybe things have changed in the last decade.

[badger]

he barely had to attend class his senior year. Maybe things have changed in the last decade.

Some students were like that back at my HS, athlete or not. They just need a few more credits to graduate, so they don't take AP classes, they take "learn to type" and "learn to cook" and "balance your checkbook."

The teachers tried to maintain some dignity by giving the classes more academic names, but that was the gist of each. Math and science requirements were done after 3 years up there. So were phy ed classes, but that didn't stop some from taking a fourth year as an elective. Oh boy! Lift weights and play dodgeball!

[lexsooner]

You asked what sorts of students Allen produces. Well, there you go. .

My point is in no way suggesting Allen's academics are not strong or the school does not produce many outstanding students who excel. I am certain Allen is an excellent school academically and there are many examples of superior students who attend or graduated from there. I actually assumed all of this because suburban schools in affluent areas generally are strong academically and in other programs, and Allen is probably on those US News lists of best schools.

My point is, to the extent it is true Allen does not want to open needed new high schools for the purpose of a stronger football program, their priorities are off. If this is true, then student class and program sizes are larger, among the drawbacks. I fully agree that students can make almost anything they want of a school, especially the super AP type students like you and your friends. This is true regardless of whether a school is overcrowded or not. However, I cannot help but think 4000 plus students in one high school creates large student class and activity sizes, with many negative effects, particularly for those students who may not be honor society types, and that's not a good thing. The athlete vs. star student point is the latter will probably experience more career success later in life, so Allen should not making any decisions for the good of the football program at the expense of academics.

Now granted, you went there, so if my assumptions about class size and school expansion are not true, feel free to correct them. I admittedly am assuming much.

[Ruf/Nek7]

It is very common for DFW schools to maintain one high school in district that could easily fill two or more. Duncanville, Desoto, Southlake are just a couple who what Allen is doing. Those are also programs who historically excel in the postseason in one sport or a few. **Duncanville puts all of its eggs in Basketball.

[KantoSooner]

I'm going to have to check Allen out the next time I'm close. I'm just guessing, but, if they spent $60 mill on a high school football facility, there must be no potholes, no area's without streetlights, the hospitals must be fantastic, crime, poverty and disease must have been vanquished. What an awesome place!
Will they even allow me to visit to take a look?

[SoCalBigRed]

Not tax dollars. It was a bond issue that was voted on passed by like 63%. It also includes a MULTI-MILLION dollar cultural center, out of the total $119 million bond. They also have some of the highest paid teachers in the state and the student body reflects that.

Yeah, its big and over-the-top... but if your HS could have one to... very few of you, would say no.

[Widescreen]

No tax dollars? How do you think those bonds are going to be paid? They raised our taxes.

[SoCalBigRed]

The state that doesn't have an income tax raised your taxes?

I'm not going to go back and forth with you on this. Not the place for it.

Don't like it. Move.

[Eielson]

I thought it was a pretty simple question.

[Widescreen]

Income taxes are not what pays bonds. Someone doesn't understand how bonds work.

[badger]

Income taxes are not what pays bonds. Someone doesn't understand how bonds work.

Property taxes, right?

[MichiganSooner]

The state that doesn't have an income tax raised your taxes?


Property taxes would pay for it, I suppose.

[Widescreen]

Property taxes, right?


Property taxes would pay for it, I suppose.

Yes and Yes. Our property taxes were already very high (one of the ways to get $ without having a state income tax) and got higher due to this stadium. But apparently this is not the place to discuss the funding of the stadium. Even though the topic is about the stadium.

[Ruf/Nek7]

Allen's most wanted:

http://www.pogueconstruction.com/images/our_team_ben_pogue_closer.jpg