Class fee angers Skiatook parents and students
TULSA (FOX 23) - All 9th, 10th, and 11th graders at Skiatook High School are required to pay a $25.00 class fee by December 16, 2012. According to the district's website, the fee takes the place of fundraisers at the school for things like prom. Now, the cost of prom for Skiatook students has been reduced from $50 to $30, and even if a student does not go to prom, they still have to pay.
“I don't think it's fair at all,” Skiatook 11th grader Justin Lambillotte said.
“I think it's stupid,” Ray Southard, a freshman at Skiatook High, said.
Parents in Skiatook feel the same way.
“I don't really agree with it,” Robert Lee told FOX23.
Skiatook Public Schools says the point of the fee is to help cover some extra curricular costs, no matter if you take part or not.
“It goes toward prom, senior night, and all that stuff,” Lambillotte said.
Another reason for the mandatory fee is to eliminate numerous fundraisers the district says have become a burden on the community. Students admit there have been a lot of those.
“I know we had quite a few last year to help out,” Lambillotte told FOX23.
“We're tired of having to keep up with all the kids doing the fundraisers and stuff,” Freshman RJ Brough said.
Some students told FOX23, they thought that would something they would learn in high school; Finding a way to earn money instead of having it handed over.
“If I pay, my parents are going to give it to me,” Southard said.
The $25 each year will add up for some.
“Most of the students families, kind of like mine, we don't get a huge income and we don't like having it wasted on an unneeded costs,” Brough said.
RJ wonders if the old system was really that bad.
“I think doing the fundraisers would have been better than this, because it wasn't coming out of your own pocket.”
When it's a public school, Lee says he shouldn't need to open his wallet.
“It's a public school system, and I think the schools out to be able to run their school system without having to charge the kids for every little thing.”
If you don’t pay the $25, the fee is added to your prom ticket. If a student decides not to attend prom and they still owe class fee money, they won’t be able to participate in graduation exercises.
“Basically they're making us pay a class fee so we can walk across the stage when we graduate,” Brough said.
People in Skiatook have a problem with that scenario.
“I don't necessarily have a problem with a $25 fee, if that's the way they pay for prom, but as far as not being able to participate in graduation services, I think that's pushing it a little bit too far,” Skiatook resident Debbie Cook told FOX23.
FOX23 tried to talk with the Superintendent of Skiatook Schools for this story but our calls were not returned.
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