Comments on: Ice World Policies Skating On Thin Ice

By: Use to be on the Edge

Use to be on the Edge — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:43:25 +0000

@ Also on the Edge –
1. Are you there during all those hours? How many of those hours involve these private lessons?
4. If you are ever there during those 3 camp times you will notice that you don’t see the director on the ice teaching except for the Advanced camp.
As to whether this article is biased, I believe the Guardian was just asking again about the conflict of interests. As far as being able to contact the rink or the city you can’t get answers to these type of questions.

By: Ice mom

Ice mom — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:57:25 +0000

Both articles are disturbing. I have a son who playes for the jr steelheads program and a daughter who is a figure skater. I do not think that the woman who is not named but is one of the biggest pot stirrers I have ever seen, meant for it to go to the figure skating side of the ice. But it is only fair that the same policies be held for both directors. If the hd is not allowed to take payments for coaching and traveling with a hockey team he coaches. And shouldn’t take rebursments for travel then how is this different from the skating director taking payment for when she takes skaters to competitions and tests? This is a normal standard in figure skating, parents split cost of their child’s coaches to go to events. If he should not have his job then neither should she. This being said I feel both of them are positive influences for the kids involved in both ice sports. Both of my kids look up to these adults. I know my son is devastated by the loss of Jeremy and my daughter would feel the same if the skating director left too. This is a shame when an issue was brought up and blown way out of control and things where made up by a few people who loved their coach until their team started losing. (PERSONAL ATTACK ON A PREVIOUS COMMENTER HAS BEEN DELETED) I am proud my son plays for the jr steelheads. And was honored when he was coached by Jeremy and loved that when my daughter skated she was able to work some with the skating director as well as her other amazing coach who worked at iiw. In my lame opinion this is all a bunch of useless drama that will in the end hurt these people their families and the youth who all love both ice sports.

Ps coaches as well as skaters pay for their freestyle time and stick and puck time just like the skaters do.

EDITOR NOTE–Comments on Ice World are closed. They have degenerated into personal attacks on individuals and between those who comment. We provided the forum after some claimed the city was unresponsive. The GUARDIAN has been in contact with the City Parks Dept., but no information has been forthcoming. Calls have not been returned, lawyers have told them not to talk to us, the Human Resources Dept. refuses to return calls. At this point there is nothing more for us to do. You can use the CONTACT button to communicate with the GUARDIAN off the public site.

By: Also on the Edge

Also on the Edge — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:08:00 +0000

@Use to be on the Edge,

Some answers to your questions:
1. She gets there at around 5:30-6:00am and doesn’t leave until 5-7pm each night.

3. This is a great point to bring up to the hockey division at the rink! I trust the hockey coaches would greatly appreciate this 🙂

4. The skating director runs 3 camps each year–spring break great to skate, summer great to skate, advanced figure skating camp.

5. Directly contacting the rink and the persons in question would be the best way to get answers.

Answer to @Confused’s question: The Boise Figure Skating Club is non-profit and does not pay any of the coaches.

Coaches are employed with the City only during Learn to Skate. Otherwise, they are independent contractors of the rink and are required to pay in full for ice time.

I am not sure what golf/Warm Springs has to do with hockey or figure skating.

Although there are undoubtedly flaws at IceWorld, as with all other organizations/businesses/enterprises, I would also like to bring up the extreme bias of this article. The author does not cite his or her sources (is this credible?), and presents vague points.

EDITOR NOTE–Re golf: someone asked about arrangements between golf pro giving lessons and city job. He answered in a previous comment…city gets 25% of his $60 per hr. private lessons.

By: Use to be on the Edge

Use to be on the Edge — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:08:53 +0000

1. Makes you wonder how the skating director manages to put in 40 hours and teach the amount of private lessons she does.
2.(COMMENT DELETED FOR LACK OF DOCUMENTATION on personal allegation)
3. Why do the figure skating coaches get to be city employees and the jr. coaches get paid in freestyle passes but the hockey coaches are all “volunteers”? Why don’t they get paid in stick time or pick up passes?
4. Why don’t you ever see the skating director running any of the camps except one? You could almost always find at least one of the hockey directors out on the ice running their camps.
5. These have been on going questions for along time, maybe now we can get some answers? Is it double standards, or conflicts of interest?
6. I have no issues with any of the coaching staff, hockey or figure. I am sure as Guardian put it they are all “wonderful” people and adored by their students and players. We couldn’t have a rink without them but fair is fair.

By: On the Edge

On the Edge — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:41:24 +0000

All the skating coaches are employees of the city when they are teaching for the Learn to Skate classes. When they do private lessons they also have to be off the clock. They all set their own prices to teach private lessons, pay for whatever ice they and their students are skating on. The city does not receive any percentage of the money they make during the private lessons. The helpers or Jr. coaches are paid in Freestyle passes and are not city employees. This situation is a common practice in most skating rinks.

By: Hockey 4 Life

Hockey 4 Life — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:41:53 +0000

Heres a thought. I could be mistaken. I believe that all figure skating coaches are considered City Employees as they provide training in Learn To Skate Classes. Based on the “Employees are prohibited from using City equipment or property to perform their outside employment” description, wouldn’t that mean that none of the skate coaches can provide private lessons at IIW? The City might want rethink the wording because if they continue with this they will be loosing money from many skaters that also pay for public ice times,stick times and freestyle skate times. That would be a good plan now wouldn’t it? I would assume the phrase “equipment” was more in reference to items like tractors and lawnmowers not sheets of ice.
Again, I am not positive the skate coaches are also City Employees.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:51:16 +0000

isnt this going a little over the top…. weve gone from hockey to golf to figure skating…. we need a story about the tennis director, basketball director ,football director, and the chess director.

By: Confused

Confused — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 03:55:07 +0000

Is she paid by the Boise Figure Skating Club. Does a Percentage of her lessons fee go back to the city like the golf instructor.

By: Not Taking Sides

Not Taking Sides — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:32:03 +0000

Still waiting for someone to explain what the difference between the two directors positions were…… The City of Boise recognizes that employees may decide to seek additional employmentduring their off hours. The City does not prohibit this as long as the additional employment
does not conflict with or detract from theemployee’s responsibilities as a City employee.
Despite any outside employment, an employee’s position with the City is an employee’s
primary responsibility. Employees are prohibited from using City equipment or property to perform their outside employment. So did the TWO directors fit this wording?

By: old timer

old timer — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:44:26 +0000

When the city took over, they made the grave error of transferring some of the dead weight from the Simplot payroll to the city payroll. Figure skating coaches at that rink have engaged in childish and unprofessional behavior for years. Plus, they suck. But they’ve got some parents bamboozled into thinking they’re hot stuff. What a joke.