my class got screwed

[bluewaveschool]

Before our last head instructor and I came back, the guy he had left the class to just about killed it. We had 2 hours each on tuesday and thursday, beginners and advanced. The guy couldn't keep students (doesn't help that the Y has never advertised us) and enrollment got so low that they took away our first hour each night. Fast forward to now. We're busting at the seams during our one hour per night, retaining 60% or more of students trying it. It had been talked about already getting our old times back, based on if we got numbers up. I got numbers up, the thursday time slot WAS free. So when I say 'hey, I want that' I got 'Well, the program director has some new classes, she wants that time slot for something'. I have the biggest class of any program they have going. With the expection of the 2 years someone tried to slowly strangle it to death, it's always been one of the biggest. The guy running the place admits this, and says we really need more time, but he's never really cared one way or the other about us. It really pisses me off, he said he knew I'd be asking about the time slot, but didn't bother to let the lady that sets up programs know. If it wasn't for the fact that the program is free for the kids and the Y does occasionally buy us equipment, I'd say screw it and set up shop somewhere else.

Well, that and I don't have the money to set up a for free school. Just needed to vent some.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Here is something I figured out. As the person running the program I had little impact on the powers that be, compared to the customers / constituents / members.

Try a campaign where your students or their parents start calling the powers that be and tell them how nice it would be to add the time slot.

 

[rlp271]

Sounds like a basic Y problem. A lot of the ones I've seen are kind of understaffed and overworked. They definitely have a lot of things going on, and they can't always get their priorities to line up. It can get frustrating. I worked for one and didn't get paid for about 5 months after I did my work. I had to go through a lot of hoops to even get that.

Maybe you can see if you can get a program running with a local school? You know, Nike gives grants every year to start sports programs in your neighborhood, you might want to look into something like that. It could give you enough startup capital, if you can partner with a school, to start a serious after-school program. A free martial arts program for local youth could make a pretty compelling grant proposal.

 

[terryl965]

I agree with Earl, have the parent call in that will make a bigger impact than you could ever do.

 

[Disco]

I taught at the "Y" many years ago and ran into the same problem(s). I came to the conclusion that martial arts programs are really not what the "Y" wants to promote or even deal with. Now I realize that there are some locals that have had good dealings with the "Y", but I've heard too many negative reports, like this one and instructors just walking away.

rip271 offered a good suggestion and it may be worth your while to look into it. You can try the suggestion that Mr Weiss offered, but I fear it would just fall on deaf ears. The problem that I personally see is that it's a free offering. I'd bet that if the "Y" was making some revenue from it, you'd see a different response from them.

 

[bluewaveschool]

The program wasn't free until july, and now it's only free to members. We always had 20+ people paying $35 a month. We have some non-members, so we bring in some money still. All the other programs have been free to members for years. Back in the day our head instructor was also on the board. When he left we kept numbers up, so they left us alone. Then my whole BB class slowly left, and the BB left in charge just couldn't cut it keeping students. It's the fault of most of the current instructors, we let the class down by drifting away. I'm going to force the issue by bringing in more students than the room can hold, and showing that we're more interesting to members than whatever fad class they want to try out now.

 

[Disco]

"If it wasn't for the fact that the program is free for the kids and the Y does occasionally buy us equipment, I'd say screw it and set up shop somewhere else."

My response was directed at that statement. Next time, perhaps offer a tad bit more pertinent information, for us to make an informed response to.