Paint Branch HS - our First Candidate for Graduation Fees and Educational Extortion

Paint Branch HS reports that they are being charged a fee for graduating from a MCPS High School.

Really?

Here is a link to the article.

Apparently, the students did not raise enough during their three years at the high school  Cancelled school events led to the Class of 2015 not having enough cash to provide "pomp" with their graduation festivities.

From the article:

Dr. Rogers shared that this fee was put in place this year because the class has not raised enough money over the past three years to cover graduation. All of those cancelled dances and PB Idol competitions that never quite happened could have been funding sources for senior events – including graduation

According to Dr. Rogers, students will have individual fundraising options to help defray or eliminate this $30 graduation fee. Dr. Rogers notes that she is “happy to do anything and everything that I possibly can to reduce costs for students.” She adds that “within a couple of weeks we are going to provide an option where students can individually fundraise to absolutely cover the cost of the graduation fee.” - See more at: http://pbmainstream.com/1820/features/senior-moments/#sthash.8LBDmbo4.dpuf

Sounds like educational extortion to me!

What's happening at your high school?