Roundup of Student Debtors Nets $5,000 at Ventura High

Ventura schools Supt. Joseph Spirito voiced concern Tuesday about the detainment of Ventura High students over unpaid debts, but Principal Hank Robertson said he plans to continue rounding up scofflaws and barring them from classes.

Robertson’s comments came one day after 350 Ventura High students were held inside the school cafeteria for about four hours, missing morning classes, so administrators could hit them up for uncollected bills.

After huddling with Robertson early Tuesday, Spirito said he “strongly recommended” that Ventura High staff members make a greater effort to notify parents of their children’s debts before conducting another bill-collecting session.

“I was concerned about the length of time the kids were held in the cafeteria,” Spirito said.

But Spirito said he will not stand in Robertson’s way if the administrator chooses to conduct a similar session in September. The principal has agreed to find better ways to notify parents and to keep the time students are detained to a minimum, the superintendent said.

The students’ debts ranged from 80 cents to more than $500, incurred from library fines, textbook replacement and equipment for after-school activities.

In the past two days, the school netted $5,000, about 10% of the total $50,000 in debts owed by students. Previous methods to recoup unpaid fines have been less effective, Robertson said.

“We are just attempting to teach responsibility,” he said. “Heaven knows our society can use it.”

Monday’s roundup outraged parent Pat Haycox, who had to come to the campus and pay her daughter Sera’s $7.40 fine before the teen-ager was allowed to return to class.

“You can do all kinds of things to get that money besides depriving the kids of valuable class time,” Haycox said.

Robertson said Ventura High administrators came up with the plan in a search for more effective ways to reclaim dollars owed by students. The school has been notifying parents on report cards that money is owed, but that did not recoup all the money, he said.

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And before Monday’s action, attempts to notify parents of the debts were also made by mail and telephone, Robertson said. Still, he concedes, some parents may have not gotten the word.

School officials chose Monday for the operation because it was the first day of the new semester, Robertson said. When students went to pick up their new class schedule, they were instead told they owed money and were required to report to the cafeteria.

Once in the cafeteria, the students were detained while administrators went over debts, collected money or worked out payment plans, he said. The session came to an end around noon when Spirito arrived at the campus and dismissed the students.

Robertson defended the session, even though some students missed four classes, because fiscal responsibility is part of education, he said.

“Money management is part of learning,” Robertson said. “And four periods lost is not very much over a year.”

Finding ways to make students pay outstanding debts is a problem that has plagued high school educators for years, officials said. School-supplied textbooks cost up to $65, and students must replace them if they are lost or damaged.

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A traditional tactic has been to tell students they cannot take part in commencement until bills are paid. But that does not always work, educators said.

The Oxnard Union High School District began cracking down on unpaid obligations more than 10 years ago, said Rafael Gonzales, director of instructional support.

Rio Mesa High School detains students in a method similar to Ventura High. The five other high schools in the district each have their own strategy, Gonzales said.

But one policy consistent throughout the high schools is a push to inform parents when bills are unpaid, Gonzales said. And school administrators “bend over backwards” to help families pay debts, he said.

“We just want the parents to make contact with us,” Gonzales said.