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What Irked You Today?


LokisTyro

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It could be worse....

There is a private school by my house. Grades 1-5 is $18k a year and it goes up to $22k per year for high school age children. International students pay an additional $50k for boarding per year. There is a list of things that are and are not included in the tuition fees. They do not nickle and dime the parents, they $50 and $100 them. I believe there is a waiting list to get into the school.

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I disagree, HArry.  The pope have and vatican have plenty of money and property that they could offer a free education.  They just want more money in their coffers.

The Vatican does have a lot of money, but the Vatican does not fund catholic schools here in the states. And the local churches are having a hard enough time keeping their own doors open, with dwindling mass attendance and dwindling contributions. So the schools sort of have to fend for themselves.

The whole priest/pedophile mess has cost the Catholic church big time, both in reputation and in actual dollars. The church has seen a large drop in attendance, in large part due to people being disgusted with the whole pedophile mess and leaving the church, and the church has paid out billions to settle a lot of these cases. Yes, it's totally a self-inflicted wound, but my point is, the church isn't in the best financial shape these days.

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This is the reason why parochial schools in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn will no longer be associated with their respective parishes. All those lawsuits have left the dioceses  pretty much broke and unable to maintain the schools.They will be required to re-designate themselves as Catholic Academies and become self-sustaining entities by finding outside sources for additional funds by 2017 or risk the very real possibility of closing. This is where the solicitation of sponsorship monies I previously mentioned comes into play. The smarter schools have been actively doing this since 2010. My son's school isn't in that group. All it takes is a letter of solicitation on official school letterhead describing the particular school's history, academic achievements, its missions and goals for the future and a detailed outline of what kind of sponsorship is sought and how the funds will be spent. Like I said, my son's old school uses the funds to set up endowments and has a scholarship fund which is used to cover the tuition for families that can't afford it. The small amount of time it takes to prepare such a letter is greatly offset by the benefits it brings to the schools. Unfortunately, my son's school thinks it's easier to get a $25 donation from Simon's Industrial Hardware or Dunne's Polemost Wines & Liquors. What irks me the most is that they had the perfect opportunity to rake in money hand over fist. They had an ace in the hole sitting as a member of the school's board of directors in the person of George J. Marlin. He is an alumnus of the school, was the Executive Director and CEO of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is presently the Chairman of the Philadelphia Trust Company and author of 11 books. He has the professional connections that one could only dream about. He could have done a bit of subtle arm twisting among his pals at cocktail parties and on the golf course to get them to pony up some ducats to help out his alma mater.. Nada. Zilch. He could have done so much to help the school; but, he did absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. To paraphrase Ralph Kramden, "George Marlin is a bum!"

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I just got off the phone with the secretary at my son's school. Yesterday, he brought home a letter regarding his graduation and the associated fee. It includes the following:

Cap and Gown (students keep) - REALLY?!? How freakin' magnanimous of you. 

Diploma with cover - I gotta pay extra for his diploma?!? I thought that the tuition had that covered.

Yearbook - So what was the twenty bucks I paid in October for? You're going to charge me twice for the same blasted thing?!?

Autograph Album - They get them for nothing and want me to pay for it. Nice.

Graduation Gift - Keep it. We're getting him one.

Mass Program - Since when does a one page folded printout justify an extra charge?

Gift to the Church - Like the priests are going out of their way and have to cancel their bowling league match that particular night and should be taken care of. I thought those two weekly offering envelopes dropped in the ushers' baskets every Sunday covered that.

She said that in the 18 years she's worked at the school, I'm the first person to complain. Really? What about the petition that over 200 parents, including myself, signed and presented to the school trustees complaining about all of the extraneous fees they pile on us? 

See, my son attends a Catholic parochial school. I had to shell out $7000 just for tuition for just this year.That's a thousand bucks more than last year and it's going up another $750 in September. Add in uniforms, supplies, an annual registration fee of $400 (why we're required to pay a registration fee every single year is beyond me. I went to parochial school and there never was an annual registration fee) and other ancillary costs, it comes to over $9K. Plus, I'm hit with what the school calls a "Family Volunteer Fee" of $500. It's actually shakedown money collected from parents who don't perform 40 hours of volunteer service for the school. It's increasing to $750 next year. What pisses me off most about this particular fee is that I'm disabled. I broke my neck in a trucking accident in 2007. I explained this to them and was told that my situation doesn't excuse me from paying. The fee applies to everyone who doesn't perform the mandatory volunteer work. If it's "volunteer work", how the hell could it be mandatory?!?

I told the schmucks on the school board of directors five years ago about soliciting private and corporate sponsorships in order to raise funds to operate the school, minimize parents' financial burden and ensure the school's continuing existence well into the future. I explained that my son's former school did exactly that and they receive money from philanthropists, Fortune 500 companies and celebrities. They even hold an annual Scholarship Fund dinner at the New York Hilton to thank the sponsors and to raise money. Last year, that school raised almost $3 million in sponsorships and hasn't increased its tuition in ten years. I contacted the board in early September last year to inquire about progress with the sponsorships and was informed by the president of the board she thought what my son's old school accomplished was impressive BUT soliciting sponsorships entails a lot of paperwork. So?!? That's what your position obligates you to do, find ways of making the school financially solvent and viable. The stinking board wasted five years by doing nothing! Instead, they would rather nickel and dime the parents to death for anything and everything. Another parent I spoke with recently hit the nail on the head. He said that the board is intentionally setting the school up to fail. He said that they are probably planning to close the school in the near future and lease the property to developers who will convert it into high-end apartments, as was done to four other Catholic schools here. I agree with his assessment. Too bad. This is the sole remaining parochial school in the entire neighborhood.

End of rant.

The New York Attorney General must have some sort of public charity office. This, in my opinion, sounds like failure to live up to fiduciary responsibilities and willful mismanagement. Make a call, you might be very pleasantly surprised at what happens. See if you can get a a few other parents to go along with this, too. 

One more reason that if I ever con some poor, misguided woman into having children with me (hey, I'm only 40, it might still happen,) they WILL be home-schooled. I trust so little of organized education anymore after years of teaching, that I don't want them near it, unless it's tutoring for something. 

Charlie Larkin

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The Vatican does have a lot of money, but the Vatican does not fund catholic schools here in the states. And the local churches are having a hard enough time keeping their own doors open, with dwindling mass attendance and dwindling contributions. So the schools sort of have to fend for themselves.

The whole priest/pedophile mess has cost the Catholic church big time, both in reputation and in actual dollars. The church has seen a large drop in attendance, in large part due to people being disgusted with the whole pedophile mess and leaving the church, and the church has paid out billions to settle a lot of these cases. Yes, it's totally a self-inflicted wound, but my point is, the church isn't in the best financial shape these days.

The catholic church has lost billions and with this economy people just don't have the money to give. People are making some real hard choices on what gets paid anymore..

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Critters in the attic, making a mess, and chewing through stuff like wires, which is why half the lights in the kitchen don't work.

And we CANNOT get the stupid things out.

Anyone got any ideas?

Charlie Larkin

Professional help. The exterminator/trapper will get them out and find where they are getting in.

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Critters in the attic, making a mess, and chewing through stuff like wires,

What kind of critter Charlie?   We had squirrels in the attic in our old house.  In the middle of a very cold winter they abandoned their nest and chewed their way through an attic vent.   I wound up paying professionals to round them all up. 

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Critters in the attic, making a mess, and chewing through stuff like wires,

What kind of critter Charlie?   We had squirrels in the attic in our old house.  In the middle of a very cold winter they abandoned their nest and chewed their way through an attic vent.   I wound up paying professionals to round them all up. 

I believe they're squirrels, might be a bird or two or a chipmunk.

We know where they're getting in, but we need to get them out first. 

I've thought of recording my friend's cat and leaving on loop up there, thinking that might scare them, but I'm not sure.

All I know is I'm getting sick of listening to them all night long. 

Charlie Larkin

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Charlie-   The exterminator who helped us said that there are always two ways out. Squirrels do that by instinct. And where we thought they were going in and out through a side vent they chewed through, they also chewed a hole in a soffit on the other side of the house, from the inside. The exterminator used a "Have-A-Heart" trap that catches them alive. Squirrels are pretty inquisitive and always fall for the bright shiny object inside the trap. He put the trap up on my roof, right near the soffit entry spot.  He'd stop by daily and take the live squirrels away and put up a new trap.  You cannot leave them in the trap because they will tear up their faces trying to get out.  

Squirrels are very territorial and won't accept a lone squirrel that has been relocated.  If you relocate a squirrel a mile away, he'll find his way back. I did some research and found that in NJ it's illegal to relocate squirrels because of disease and such.  The irony is that the Have-A-Heart trap is designed to fit right inside a garbage can.  Fill that can up with water, insert trap with live squirrel.  Wait ten minutes.  

 

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 I did some research and found that in NJ it's illegal to relocate squirrels because of disease and such.  The irony is that the Have-A-Heart trap is designed to fit right inside a garbage can.  Fill that can up with water, insert trap with live squirrel.  Wait ten minutes.  

 

I have talked to people who have said they do skunks that way. Tom, do squirrels move around at night???

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Squirrels appear to only be active outside during the day.  I've never seen one after dark.  But they run around your attic all night!

As my lack of sleep will attest.

I'll tell ya, I'm half-tempted to drive to Mid-Atlantic NNL Friday so I can get a decent night's sleep!

Charlie Larkin

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Professional help. The exterminator/trapper will get them out and find where they are getting in.

Charlie also needs to get professional help with those wires & lights that aren't working.  That's dangerous.  Where there is insulation that's been chewed up, there's potential for a fire to result from exposed wires. 

I can't even remember how many structure fires I've investigated over the years that were caused by vermin chewing through wiring insulation in attics. 

 

 

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Charlie also needs to get professional help with those wires & lights that aren't working.  That's dangerous.  Where there is insulation that's been chewed up, there's potential for a fire to result from exposed wires. 

I can't even remember how many structure fires I've investigated over the years that were caused by vermin chewing through wiring insulation in attics. 

 

 

Careless smoking by pigeons, or mice playing with matches. 

Both can be very dangerous.

G

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I've worked closely with exterminators in situations just like this. I make repairs and seal out the critters and they remove the critters. Sometimes just going into the attic to do the repairs chases them out. In some cases the vermin need to be killed or they keep coming back. Consider yourself lucky that it isn't a raccoon. They will tear your house apart to get in, they love wet insulation and I have seen them rip holes through roofs to get at it. Very destructive. Usually if a squirrel is nesting in the attic the nest is easy to spot unless there is a lot of stored items up there.

Bats are tough to keep out. They fit through tiny holes and gaps.

As was already stated the electrical wiring is something that needs addressed immediately.

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I've worked closely with exterminators in situations just like this. I make repairs and seal out the critters and they remove the critters. Sometimes just going into the attic to do the repairs chases them out. In some cases the vermin need to be killed or they keep coming back. Consider yourself lucky that it isn't a raccoon. They will tear your house apart to get in, they love wet insulation and I have seen them rip holes through roofs to get at it. Very destructive. Usually if a squirrel is nesting in the attic the nest is easy to spot unless there is a lot of stored items up there.

Bats are tough to keep out. They fit through tiny holes and gaps.

As was already stated the electrical wiring is something that needs addressed immediately.

Don't remind me as we had raccoons in our attic a couple of years ago. Yes we did hire professional help to get rid of them. Of course they had to be trapped and relocated as it is humane and the law I believe. Cost us a good buck also.

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Handling live or dead bats by anyone except trained professionals is dangerous. They, along with raccoons, skunks, foxes and coyotes are primary rabies carriers in the U.S. and you risk infection just by contact. 

Friends of ours had bats in their attic for years before they realized it.  It's a higher section of their house with a small trap door for access so they didn't use it.  The bats were slipping in through a small crack above the siding.  The bats did a lot of guano up there and bats carry bugs that are on them and will nest in and eat the guano.  Our friends discovered the bats when the bugs came into the house and were in all their furniture, like bed bugs.  They wound up tossing all their carpets, upholstered furniture and having the men in white suits completely clean out the attic.

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Charlie also needs to get professional help with those wires & lights that aren't working.  That's dangerous.  Where there is insulation that's been chewed up, there's potential for a fire to result from exposed wires. 

I can't even remember how many structure fires I've investigated over the years that were caused by vermin chewing through wiring insulation in attics. 

 

 

Tell me about it....this house is a horror show.

Even when I was a kid, it was starting to be the butt of jokes with my friends. 

At our 20th high school reunion a couple of years ago: 

One of my friends: "Your dad ever get the house done?"

Me: "Ha!" 

Friend: "That good?"

Me: "There's nothing wrong with it that six or eight swipes with a backhoe won't fix now."

I'm not even so sure it's the varmints; but to have lights stop working without reason, and after replacing switches and fixtures, leads me to believe there's wire damage. 

As long as we can keep it together for probably another 2-3 years, then we're selling, and probably selling a new house in place of this one so we can actually make some money on it. 

Charlie Larkin

Edited by charlie8575
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