Last we knew, public school bus fees were illegal in Maryland. But, Blair High School has put a mandatory $20 bus fee on their graduating seniors.
Does it really cost Blair High School $13,100 to bus the senior class (655 students) to DAR Constitution Hall for graduation? What kind of buses are they using? Why the mandatory bus ride? Or, is this just another way of saying "senior fee" and slush fund for local school? And, how is this bus fee an exception to Maryland law?
Graduation Package 2012
Who gets to keep the profit from the tassels? It's easy to find tassels online for less than $4 each. For example:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tasseldepot.com/adgrta.html
$3.75 each in quantity 100.
And there are many other sellers that offer similar tassels for even less.
It's another slush fund for the local principal. Illegal fee, no BOE approval to charge fee, no oversight of where money goes.
DeleteIn 2009, Whitman spent $2040 for buses to DAR. That's $4.50/student. Scaling that up to Blair's student population gives $2856. Gas has gone up a lot since then so throw in another 40% for gas, inflation, and other increases. Result: $4000. Still nowhere near Blair's $13,000.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking the a "Blair bus" really means limos with minibars. After all, $13,000/655 amounts to $20/student. Group into sets of 6 students and you have enough to rent a fleet of plush rides for an hour.
All schools that offer bus service to DAR use tour buses. They cannot use school buses because they are needed for regular routes. Tour buses cost money. $20.00 is reasonable. If people think its too much money to spend then they can drive or take Metro.
ReplyDeleteNo, they can't drive or take Metro. Taking the bus is required. Paying the fee is required. See the word REQUIRED on the order form above.
Delete$20 is not reasonable. It is exorbitant. (For $7 you can get to Baltimore on MARC.)
But most important is it is an illegal fee.
Graduation is FREE. There are no fees imposed by the legislature or by the Board of Education on graduation at public high schools in Maryland.
Wheaton High School offers optional bus service to families that wish to take a bus to graduation. Somehow they are only charging $15 per person.
DeleteBlair's fee is reasonable? Not hardly.
And even the Blair PTSA can get people to DAR on Chartered Buses cheaper than the Blair Principal.
Delete$10 on the optional PTSA bus, but $20 on the REQUIRED Blair HS student bus.
http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2012/06/50-ways-to-get-to-dar-hop-on-family-bus.html
Graduation is still free.
Profiting off of graduates is what sort of MCPS Core Value?
For $30 you can take a bus from Bethesda to Penn Station in New York City (a plug here for Vamoose Bus). And, those buses have seat belts.
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