By Joe Laird
The lunch leave and parking passes at Riverside cost $100, a price that upsets the majority of students and families.
To many students, where all this money goes is a mystery. The money we think we are giving to Riverside is actually going directly to the Financial Department of the School Board. This money is “budgeted and appropriated for school purposes,” according to School Board Policy. When first reading this, anyone would be outraged, as we have no clue where this money is actually going in this general context.
However, the money is going towards some useful things, according to School Board Director of Security Tina Ingram, like the new security systems installed, cameras, and administrative radios.
These are important elements to a school system, but why does the students money have to go towards security improvements for the whole district? It’s our money, so shouldn’t it go towards things that will more directly benefit us and make school more fun?
We could put these thousands of dollars towards new sports equipment, new computers for the school, or even towards having pep-rallies every couple of months. This would keeps students engaged, and benefit us directly for the money we’re giving to the school.
Overall, we need to use this funding for the benefit of the student body of schools, because we are putting in the money. It is not fair to make us pay $100 for parking and lunch leave passes, for it to go all the way up to the district, and almost certainly not affect us directly.
