Books, Fees and Student Responsibility

Recently, Crenshaw High School Principal Yolanda Anderson announced that the school’s practice of charging students a $50 refundable fee for the use of textbooks is a violation of the State Education Code. Crenshaw will refund the fees to all students.

A Crenshaw student spoke with MARY REESE BOYKIN about the charge.

ERSNE EROMO

16, 11th grade magnet

In class we discussed the fact that the $50 charge for a book deposit is illegal, since Crenshaw is a public school. My first thought was “Wow! We get our money back.” I calculated all the ways I could spend my money: shoes, a dress or maybe a ring. But after much discussion in class, I concluded that the fee was a good idea because many students don’t take care of their books. The art history book costs $75. The deposit would not even cover the cost of replacing it.

My father, who is a college professor, likes the idea of the deposit because he knows that frequently kids--and that includes my twin brother and me--don’t take care of their books. He paid the fee willingly, especially since it is refundable.

For those who ask, “But why didn’t parents and students protest the fee?” I think the reason is that people don’t always know the education codes. It’s hard to speak out if you are not sure that you have a legitimate argument.

I am not aware of any students who were penalized because of the $50 fee. If students couldn’t pay the $50 all at once, they were given a payment plan--say $5 a month--until the deposit was paid in full. And those students were issued books immediately. Then, too, there were some teachers who didn’t follow the rules about issuing books only to students with proof of the book deposit and just issued books to every student in their class. Of course, there were students who didn’t pay the fee. They were the ones who tore pages out of the classroom set of books to do their homework.

The reason that I favor the fee is because there are those who don’t take proper care of the books because they don’t belong to them. The fee was like collateral. Many of us were more careful with our books because we had something to lose--$50--if we damaged or lost a book.