It's so nice having a college track to use. As long as there isn't practice going on nobody cares who uses it. I understand that not all colleges are that chill about it tho.
Are your tax dollars used to build public schools? Yes, of course.
How are you not allowed to use it? Just because it was publicly funded doesn't mean the public can do whatever it wants with it. There's still a management and operations process that governs use. Yes, it should be operated for the intended purpose. And yes, the public probably does get some access. But you still need to follow the established procedures.
Your best bet is to try somewhere else where maybe the staff is less concerned about your presence or try a different time of day.
Thank you for the non toxic reply, I’ve never once been told I couldn’t run on a track before so I was surprised. I also have used this specific track many times during school hours and this is the first time someone has told me I wasn’t allowed to use it. When I was in HS 8 years ago people always used our track and simply just used outside lanes On the track if we were doing a workout and our coaches never had a problem with it or told them to leave..
I'm somewhat of an expert on this topic having climbed a lot of fences and squeezed through a lot of gates. You just learn what you can and can't get away with. I've been run off more times than I can count. But it's never escalated beyond that. Just be polite and leave. In this case you even found out the hours you can use it so consider it a plus.
You'll learn what places care more than others. There are some sites I frequent where the staff sort of know me and will say hi. On more than one occasion they have offered to unlock the bathrooms for us. And some where I know to just pick up and leave if a certain car shows up in the lot.
Once during covid lockdown there was a local high school with a nice facility and the public was making good use of it. The gates could all push open from the inside so someone would climb the fence and then just put the trash can there to hold the gate open. One weekend there must have been 100+ people there. A couple groups on the track. Pickup soccer. One guy had his speed and agility class there. Etc. Anyway, cops show up and basically said the school called us so we had to show up but we can see you all aren't causing any harm and we're glad you're getting some exercise. Not the way I expected that one to go.
I went to a middle school track today at 7AM and after I parked and got out of my car a lady who worked at the school started yelling at me from a distance so I walked over to her and explained that I was going to use the track she told me that campus is closed from 6:30AM-5:30PM but no one was using the track when I was there. Are my tax dollars not used to build these public schools? How am I not allowed to run on a public track. Given if there were students there using the track I would’ve just left as soon as I saw it in use but there was literally no one there. This lady seemed angry and gave me attitude as well. There are also no signs posted anywhere saying it’s closed.
You should run the hallways of the school and tell them "my tax dollars say I can run this school". Go into the classroom and start using the computer and say "my tax dollars say I bought this and it's a public computer"
When the police show up simply inform them that your tax dollars pay their salary and therefore they are your employees and have to do as you say or you'll have them fired.
This post was edited 57 seconds after it was posted.
There was a time when tracks were made of cheap cinder and school violence was rare. That times is over. I don't blame people for being paranoid about keeping people off school property.
Reminds me of the Workaholics episode where they go into the school and the lady tells them to leave by saying, "use the door" and they say, "well we will, because we're tax payers, and we own this door!!".
Id be really disappointed on where my tax dollars are going if police show up to someone trying to get exercise on a track
You have zero rights to that track during the posted hours of school usage regardless of whether or not there are students present. Hey 24, life is not about you anymore... you're not a kid. It's called trespassing in the adult world. Follow the rules.
Id be really disappointed on where my tax dollars are going if police show up to someone trying to get exercise on a track
You have zero rights to that track during the posted hours of school usage regardless of whether or not there are students present. Hey 24, life is not about you anymore... you're not a kid. It's called trespassing in the adult world. Follow the rules.
I paid money for that track so I don't want a bunch of random people out there wearing it out. If we let everyone on it then I am going to have to pay for another track sooner.
A lot of "holier than thou" types here, and I can't stand it. OP, you did the right thing in leaving when she asked. On the flip side, that's one employee who may not even know the written rules — there's a lot of overzealous admins out there. I use a HS track when they're having field sport practice after school, one time a coach politely asked me to leave. The lacrosse coach likes me because I toss their balls back to them. I don't know what the official policy is, except there is a sign that says I'm allowed to use it before and after school.
If I were OP, I wouldn't be scared of trying again. Obviously don't cause a scene. I grew up having track practice during school hours, and if non-school-affiliated people were playing soccer or walking in the outside lanes, we'd let them be as long as they weren't in our way. And I'm not particularly old either, this isn't some "back in my day" post.
Regarding the "muh tax dollars" argument, well, it's silly. You can't just waltz into a jail cell. But I do believe that a community and its education/recreation sources should work together for common good, and allowing usage of resources like a track and field are easy to implement. I blame lazy athletic directors and superintendents.
By this, I'm specifically referring to the "school is school first" poster. I'll eat my spikes if he's not a career bureaucrat/paper pusher at the No Fun Factory.
The "my tax dollars" argument doesn't work for reasons already mentioned - some tax funded things are open for public use, some aren't. That said, just because some things aren't open and available doesn't mean all of them aren't. A school computer lab, a jail cell, and a track have nothing to do with each other, and comparing them is also a poor argument.
Anyway, I don't think OP did anything wrong and just happened to encounter Karen. Just go when nobody is around so people don't think you're a pervert, and it will be fine. If you're not getting in anybody's way, no reasonable person should care.
Thank you for the non toxic reply, I’ve never once been told I couldn’t run on a track before so I was surprised. I also have used this specific track many times during school hours and this is the first time someone has told me I wasn’t allowed to use it. When I was in HS 8 years ago people always used our track and simply just used outside lanes On the track if we were doing a workout and our coaches never had a problem with it or told them to leave..
I'm somewhat of an expert on this topic having climbed a lot of fences and squeezed through a lot of gates. You just learn what you can and can't get away with. I've been run off more times than I can count. But it's never escalated beyond that. Just be polite and leave. In this case you even found out the hours you can use it so consider it a plus.
You'll learn what places care more than others. There are some sites I frequent where the staff sort of know me and will say hi. On more than one occasion they have offered to unlock the bathrooms for us. And some where I know to just pick up and leave if a certain car shows up in the lot.
Once during covid lockdown there was a local high school with a nice facility and the public was making good use of it. The gates could all push open from the inside so someone would climb the fence and then just put the trash can there to hold the gate open. One weekend there must have been 100+ people there. A couple groups on the track. Pickup soccer. One guy had his speed and agility class there. Etc. Anyway, cops show up and basically said the school called us so we had to show up but we can see you all aren't causing any harm and we're glad you're getting some exercise. Not the way I expected that one to go.
Yeah I’m like a track ninja. I sneak into tracks all over town. Scale fences and everything. If authorities show up, I RUN away. They never catch me and it spices up the workout
Sometimes it has to do with liability. When I was in high school many years ago, no student could use it unless a faculty member was present in the room. My father was a competitive powerlifter when younger so I grew up around weights and probably knew as much or more about lifting safety than any faculty member. However, I was kicked out numerous times. Now, if the 60-year-old, 5'1" English teacher who never did a single athletic thing in her entire life and couldn't tell the difference between a dumbbell and a squat rack was in the room, it was OK to lift. I was informed that it was a liability issue for the school.