Let's punish the students....

[Dry Creek]

Here is a classic example of how bureaucracy works its magic at the school board level.
Granbury Independent School District (Granbury TX) has two outstanding aviation centered programs - Skyward. In the aviation engineering program, students assemble an RV kit and sell it at a profit, purchase a new kit, and start the process all over. In their Young Eagles program, they have flight training. The school owns an older, but nice low-hour C-172 that has been maintained and upgraded. The GISD High School students get to use this plane for flight training, and a local flight school (Granbury office of In The Pattern) provides the CFI for their training. This is a chance for students who otherwise wouldn't have the financial means to obtain their Private Pilot certification to get a jumpstart in the aviation industry.
A few folks got wind of an Assistant Administrator using the plane for what was considered "personal use". His position is that he needed to use it to maintain his currency. He is not directly involved in the program (i.e. not a CFI), but he was the one who convinced the school district to purchase and upgrade the plane and start a Young Eagles program.

Local Newspaper Reported
Regional Television News Reported

The results from the audit are here:

• KBS Law Firm Report
• KBS Law Firm Exhibits

And the result? The school's plane was grounded. Yep, that's right - an administrator abuses his position and the students are punished. Fortunately, the flight school stepped up and it is rumored that they are providing a plane at half the normal wet rental rate. Still, this could be a huge financial burden for some of the parents.

Why do I care? because it directly affects me. Since the flight school has dedicated the use of one of their two aircraft based at KGDJ to GHS student training, that leaves only one other plane for us old geezers in flight training. Well, that other plane is down for annual and 100 hour. Bummer, no flights for me the next two weeks.

There is N78482, but for some reason the CFI's are not comfortable with training in that one. I'm not overly worried about using it - I have at least a dozen hours in - and lived to tell.

 

[TCABM]

We’ve discussed the administrator’s actions here recently. Sucks you’re impacted.

 

[AggieMike88]

I know the owner of In The Pattern. He is a good person and runs a good operation.

@Dry Creek … I’m in the region. If I can help with your flight education, let me know.

 

[Half Fast]

Yep, that sucks, but it seems like your grievance is with the freeloading administrator. Maybe you could get a lawyer and sue him?

 

[Dry Creek]

We’ve discussed the administrator’s actions here recently. Sucks you’re impacted.

Oops, sorry that I missed that.
I did not mean to clutter up the board with a duplicate thread.
Should I have this one deleted?

 

[Dry Creek]

Yep, that sucks, but it seems like your grievance is with the freeloading administrator. Maybe you could get a lawyer and sue him?

You are correct.
His improper actions were ignored, and instead the students he represents are affected.

As for my inconvenience, I'm just whining.

 

[Dry Creek]

I know the owner of In The Pattern. He is a good person and runs a good operation.

@Dry Creek … I’m in the region. If I can help with your flight education, let me know.

Thanks. I'm sure that Sherman, his brother, and Langdon are doing their level best to make this work for everyone involved. It's just so unfortunate that the students ended up getting the short end of the stick.

 

[TCABM]

Oops, sorry that I missed that.
I did not mean to clutter up the board with a duplicate thread.
Should I have this one deleted?

No need. It was not obvious to me, which entity “grounded” the aircraft?

 

[NorthEast Ohio]

Is there a name for the situation?
Where the one bad apple causes all the good apples to be punished?

 

[Dry Creek]

No need. It was not obvious to me, which entity “grounded” the aircraft?

It is my understanding that the plane was grounded by the school administration - while they conduct a program review. One of my coworkers has a child in the program, and the word is that they may just shut the program down and sell the plane.
I hear that more "deserving" departments are salivating at the prospect of reaping the windfall from the sale of the plane. Just what we need, more money funneled into athletics rather than academics. Isn't the demand for sports figures so much greater than for commercial aviation?

 

[Pinecone]

What else is new? This is how government works. At ALL levels.

Someone does something wrong, punish everyone with rules changes, that most times don't actually affect the people who did wrong.

The easy, LOGICAL answer for this situation is to bill him the going rental rate (at the FBO) for the hours he flew. And add a rule stating that any use outside of student training is billed to the pilot.

 

[Clip4]

If I were a tax payer in that school district I would be writing the board to sell the plane or donate it to a non profit corporation. The tax payer subsidy received by the few aviation students is unfair to the rest the 7500 kids in the school district and a potential liability for the tax payer.

 

[NoBShere]

My high school had a flight (rudimentary sims) and aerodynamics (small wind tunnel) shop class. I was a kid who got good grades when interested but, couldn't focus on stuff I wasn't interested in and performance suffered. That flight class was what helped me realize how various subjects could come together and be interesting. I always thought it was a wasted opportunity when communities with airports don't tie into the local education bureaucracy as one option to advance STEM. Pilots love talking about pilot stuff to people who don't care, let alone someone that shows an interest. Could even include sustainability related topics and how its important to consider up front because change is hard.

 

[Pugs]

If I were a tax payer in that school district I would be writing the board to sell the plane or donate it to a non profit corporation. The tax payer subsidy received by the few aviation students is unfair to the rest the 7500 kids in the school district and a potential liability for the tax payer.

Given what schools pay for outside the core curriculum (athletics, clubs, social events etc) at least this can be pointed out as an actual benefit to education with purpose. I applaud them for thinking out of the box and looking forward to a pressing need in this country.

Despite a couple degrees I often feel like I got more out of high school wood and metal shop and mechanical drawing than most of my core curriculum college prep classes.

 

[NoBShere]

Given what schools pay for outside the core curriculum (athletics, clubs, social events etc) at least this can be pointed out as an actual benefit to education with purpose. I applaud them for thinking out of the box and looking forward to a pressing need in this country.

Despite a couple degrees I often feel like I got more out of high school wood and metal shop and mechanical drawing than most of my core curriculum college prep classes.

I agree. I was one of those that got a lot out of athletics but, I got more from shop classes and the very few math and science teachers that included "application" in there lessons.

 

[idahoflier]

Given what schools pay for outside the core curriculum (athletics, clubs, social events etc) at least this can be pointed out as an actual benefit to education with purpose. I applaud them for thinking out of the box and looking forward to a pressing need in this country.

Despite a couple degrees I often feel like I got more out of high school wood and metal shop and mechanical drawing than most of my core curriculum college prep classes.

I couldn't agree more! I'm shocked that this program exists and I think it's a great opportunity for the students! Reading the report from the law firm it seems like it is a well run program and is paying for itself it would be a shame to see it go because one guy didn't pay for some fuel...

 

[NoBShere]

Another example of aviation in education - https://bobhooveracademy.org/

 

[Dry Creek]

I always thought it was a wasted opportunity when communities with airports don't tie into the local education bureaucracy as one option to advance STEM.

Even better, the High School is within walking distance to the FBO where it currently exists. even when they open the new terminal, the flight school will probably stay in the old building as it is so near the hangars.