Question for TDs of high schools or high school crew members...

[focusingthepoint]

Wow, it sounds like a lot of you get a whole lot more than we do.

1) When you do outside shows (i.e., not your choir, band, etc) that pay to rent your venue, does your student stage crew get paid?
No. On top of the venue rental fee the group does have to pay $25 per hour (or $50 for double overtime if it's outside of the regular school day) to the school's staff member in charge of tech and the auditorium. Fear of bureaucratic complications mean that we as students get paid nothing. However if the staff member does require student help, his deal is that he will feed us. At bare minimum he will order pizza, especially if we are going straight from school to working on the even with no time in-between. If we have time, then he will take us to a nearby restaurant (there are a number of reasonable restaurants in walking distance of the school).

2) If so, how much?
Money, none.
Food? About one meal's worth.

3) If you do pay, how do you relate it (if at all) to federal or state minimum wage laws?
N/A

4) Do they have to have work permits?
N/A

5) Any other pertinent info about such a situation.
While we don't get paid now, when I was in middle school for the few events that we did, we were paid. The teacher there who also was in charge of tech stuff would pay us usually about $10 an event out of his stipend for working it.

 

[EustaceM]

For my high school we didn't get paid for outside events/performances. Those who took technical theatre courses were required to work at least 2-3 events/performances (outside or those produced by the theatre department/school). We signed up to work different events/performances during the semester. We were encouraged to volunteer for those we did not sign up for as well.

 

[esmphoto]

1) When you do outside shows (i.e., not your choir, band, etc) that pay to rent your venue, does your student stage crew get paid? *Yes.*
2) If so, how much? Minimum wage except me.
3) If you do pay, how do you relate it (if at all) to federal or state minimum wage laws? All student employees are paid minimum wage, again except me, I'm a little special.
4) Do they have to have work permits? We don't allow students under the age of 16 to work, they are considered "volunteers." students who do work are run through the business office and the district to become real part time employees.
5) Any other pertinent info about such a situation. *We usually don't have much student crew working on outside performances, JROTC ushers work every show and I'm on a limited lease contract with the school. Just keep your schools business manager in the loop and whoever is in charge of payroll, they'll both be valuable assets.

 

[JonasA]

Not entirely relevant, but does anyone have any experience in this for Australia? I'm curious because I've only ever met one student tech who gets paid, and I'd love to have some information on students getting paid here, not just in the States, before I go to my school and ask them to hand over some cash for the ludicrous amount of free labour they're getting from me right now.

 

[David Ashton]

It's pure market economics, sure a good kid who can rig and run a show will get paid, my son Sean used to get $20/hr, but he's good.He did his own school shows for free, everyone else paid.You decide what you want and ask for that, you risk losing, but that's life, just the same as in business, figure out what you're worth and charge that, if you're too cheap you get too much work, too dear, too little.Such is life.

 

[longbordr13]

1) When you do outside shows (i.e., not your choir, band, etc) that pay to rent your venue, does your student stage crew get paid? Yes we do.
2) If so, how much? $10+/hr
3) If you do pay, how do you relate it (if at all) to federal or state minimum wage laws?Above Min. wage
4) Do they have to have work permits? No, because it is a district approved event.
5) Any other pertinent info about such a situation. We require at least $10/hr but some events/teachers pay more..

 

[Nelson]

2) If so, how much? $10+/hr

I wish I was paid $10+/hr! Seriously. Us poorer districts just can't afford it.

 

[josh88]

for the outside shows my space puts on, I and any students techs they need, generally no more than two, get paid $25/hr. At least I think that's the rate. I only take the check I don't deal with who gets what. No work permits are needed and I think they may even get community services hours for it even though they are paid.

 

[museav]

Just curious but do people differentiate between a 'student' and a 'worker' that should probably be approached as an employee? How do you assign people to events? And how do you address the value someone brings or provide an incentive to learn more and do better if you pay everyone the same? I guess that I just see the role of 'student' being very different than that of someone who may be a student but is functioning as an employee, including in terms of any compensation.

 

[josh88]

Just curious but do people differentiate between a 'student' and a 'worker' that should probably be approached as an employee? How do you assign people to events? And how do you address the value someone brings or provide an incentive to learn more and do better if you pay everyone the same? I guess that I just see the role of 'student' being very different than that of someone who may be a student but is functioning as an employee, including in terms of any compensation.

in my situation we have one student who is the go to for sound, he knows the system and how to mix. We've got one or two who can run lights. when we need help for the show we start at the top of our lists and ask if people are available, they get the job.

last night I designed and ran the light board for our holiday concert, and had the usual sound tech. This weekend we have another show I'm designing lights but running sound for. The light board op is being paid and I'm training him on the board this week while I program.

so in short I guess most of the time the "students" are viewed as workers for the show but as students during the week up to performance as they are learning the system and should in theory be able to run it on their own by the weekend. For that matter, this is why they get community service, because during the rehearsals they are volunteering and showing up to learn on their own. Then they receive the per hour pay for the performances.

 

[museav]

so in short I guess most of the time the "students" are viewed as workers for the show but as students during the week up to performance as they are learning the system and should in theory be able to run it on their own by the weekend. For that matter, this is why they get community service, because during the rehearsals they are volunteering and showing up to learn on their own. Then they receive the per hour pay for the performances.

When supporting outside events the people working may be students but they seem to be functioning in a technical/professional capacity as employees. However, for school events I am trying to understand where people see the division between student and employee and how it fits in with other aspects of their schools, especially in public schools. If you have a school production where the tech staff gets paid for the performance do the performers, the musicians, the makeup artists, the ushers, the box office staff and so forth also get paid for those performances? And do you pay your orchestra and choir for concerts or your athletes for games and competitions? It just seems that paying 'students' opens up a range of potential issues, while their being employees may make payment acceptable but has other considerations.

The reason this is of interest to me is that it goes to the issue of who may be the 'user' of and the intended goals for school audio systems. If one of the goals is generating jobs and income for paid 'professional' staff then that can be an important factor that may differ compared to a purely academic situation.

 

[josh88]

if its for the school (ie the musical, a concert...) the techs involved don't get paid. It's only outside rentals that come in and use our space where they get paid. So in that case when the school is directly involved they are always viewed as "just" students.

 

[derekleffew]

for the outside shows my space puts on, I and any students techs they need, generally no more than two, get paid $25/hr. ...

EACH?! That sounds exorbitant. In most locales, one can get IATSE stagehands for $25/hour or less. Of course, it's not unheard of for a venue to charge $25/hour but pay the technicians far less.

 

[josh88]

yes each. Part of it is we are a private school, part of it is the pay for techs is sort of built into the rental fee for the space. It's pretty common for the three of us to get paid out around $400 total for a night.

the other part of the equation is how much people are willing to pay techs in the providence area I've found. I've talked to 2 or 3 different people that have said "if you work for me for a show I don't pay less than $40/hr". A lot of places I've worked with here really take care of techs/designers/teaching artists. At the same time from our main jobs myself and the girlfriend are still getting paid next to nothing, so its a strange combination.

 

[emac]

yes each. Part of it is we are a private school, part of it is the pay for techs is sort of built into the rental fee for the space. It's pretty common for the three of us to get paid out around $400 total for a night.

the other part of the equation is how much people are willing to pay techs in the providence area I've found. I've talked to 2 or 3 different people that have said "if you work for me for a show I don't pay less than $40/hr". A lot of places I've worked with here really take care of techs/designers/teaching artists. At the same time from our main jobs myself and the girlfriend are still getting paid next to nothing, so its a strange combination.

So at 25 and hour WITH OUT taxes and getting 400 total for a night you were working 16 hours???? That seems to me as a violation of labor laws if you are a minor.

It may be different for your state but in washington state theres a certain number of hours that you can work in a day and in a week. The daily maximum is much less then 16. Maybe 10 on the weekends.

Odd. And again thats with out paying taxes.

 

[LavaASU]

So at 25 and hour WITH OUT taxes and getting 400 total for a night you were working 16 hours???? That seems to me as a violation of labor laws if you are a minor.

It may be different for your state but in washington state theres a certain number of hours that you can work in a day and in a week. The daily maximum is much less then 16. Maybe 10 on the weekends.

Odd. And again thats with out paying taxes.

I think he means $400 divided amongst the 3 techs. Which means roughly $125 each for 5 hours work. Thats a lot for a high school student. But I doubt 5 hours is breaking laws in and of itself... I know I worked 8 or more while in high school on certain shows.

 

[josh88]

I meant $400 as a total payout for the techs for the night. I was there for about 8 hours they were there for 3 and change, so it was close to $200 for me and $100 for each of them. The students we use the most are both 18 so they aren't minors.

 

[Scarrgo]

1.Yes we pay crew for all events district/rentals;Box office as needed for district events
2.Mininum wage for first year, Second and third year get a slight raise (less than a dollar)
3.Follow State Rules
4.Yes as they are students 15 to 18. and considered Part Time District Employees
5.We also have to follow labor rules for how many hours per day/week they can work as the state sees them having a full time job just being in high school.

We have 3 full time supervisors and 18 kids working crew/box, a couple of them only work certain jobs(lights,sound) but we try to let them work as many different jobs as possible. We serve 1 tech center, 2 high, 4 middle, and 8 elementary schools and 1 mega church plus as many outside rentals as time permits...

Sean...

 

[MJS94]

1) When you do outside shows (i.e., not your choir, band, etc) that pay to rent your venue, does your student stage crew get paid?
2) If so, how much?
3) If you do pay, how do you relate it (if at all) to federal or state minimum wage laws?
4) Do they have to have work permits?
5) Any other pertinent info about such a situation.
The reason I ask is because our school has a tradition of paying students for such events, but the pay has been the same for the last 30 years (literally). I have been TD for 5 and wish to bring us into the 21st century. I want to make sure that a) I have the option of paying or not, and b) if I do continue to pay, that I am not going to get massively caught up in bureacracy and this law and that, c) but at the same time, I do not want to break laws.
If you are a high school crew member, and you know answers to these questions, feel free to chime in.

1) We usually have at least one district paid theatre employee there, mostly for insurance purposes. We do get paid.
2) about $20/hr
3) Taxes are still paid on it.
4) Most crew thats works has to be over 16 therefore not in need of work permit.
5) Many companies that have come in have also been very generous and have given tips to the school employees at the end of their event

 

[FACTplayers]

Our high school is simple: student cannot and do not receive payment. They bring in band players for the orchestra, set construction, etc and they are not allowed to be paid until after graduation. Even with an outside group the school will not pay them. However, the outside group may pay the student, but that is between the student and the group.