Dear Editor,
It seems that the BC Teachers’ Federation is constantly begging for more money, yet some schools seem to waste the money they do have on useless or personal purchases.
It has come to my attention that my high school, McMath secondary, which generally has a good reputation, has made some seriously questionable decisions about how it has spent its money.
As a student, my biggest concerns are my education and my well-being, and those of my fellow students.
So, when I found out that the school has spent a significant amount of money on a system that negatively impacts all students, I began questioning its choices.
To summarize what happened, the school put in an expensive alarm system on one of the library doors, due to the staff being annoyed by too many students passing through.
Not only does this give absolutely no security benefit whatsoever, it blocks off access to the library for half of the school, causing quite an inconvenience, especially for disabled students.
It has also caused many pranksters to take advantage of the situation and cause much chaos in the school.
For a while, several times a week, people would run through the alarmed door, setting off an ear-splitting ringing.
This disrupted the whole library, including the room where many noise-sensitive special needs students work, causing some to even cry.
One student took the prank to the next level and tore down the custom-made posters that read: “This is not an exit,” which the school claims would cost ‘several hundred dollars’ to replace.
Could they not have just used a free poster board, or got some students to make some posters for free?
In my opinion, the alarm and the expensive posters were useless purchases that in no way support us students.
The school is still not able to provide enough lockers for the growing population, forcing many students to carry everything with them all day, yet they go ahead and spend what I estimate to be more than $1,000, based on claims from the staff, on a purchase that negatively impacts all students.
I am very disappointed.
Roy Adams
Richmond
