Tag: students

Parking Pass Prices Too Expensive for Students

By Evan Shertzer –

People pay taxes, the government receives the tax money and the government then gives the money to the schools to build stuff. The schools then build and construct buildings and parking lots, and yet the schools still make the students and parents pay for parking passes to park at the school that they already paid for through taxes.

So why do the kids pay for parking passes? The school should not be charging a fee to park at a place that was already paid for through tax money. The students aren’t even told where the money goes and so the schools should assign students parking spaces instead of making them pay for it.

Schools are funded by taxes from people paying money toward the school district depending on which area they live in. If schools need more money or funding, they should either try to pass higher taxes or ask the government for more money. Making students pay for parking passes is a sneaky way the school district has figured out to bring in more income. The taxes of the people who send their kids to Penn Manor and also funding from the state pay for the buildings, construction and parking lots, and the kids shouldn’t also be charged for what their parents are paying or have paid for.

A parking lot for students at a school. Photo from myparkingsign.com

For some students at Penn Manor, the $40 to park the entire year comes straight out of their pocket and that for some is an entire week’s work. Even though Penn Manor does provide transportation to school for all kids and truthfully doesn’t even need to allow kids to even park at Penn Manor, what would the school do about having all the kids stay for sports after school? There is a need for the parking spaces at Penn Manor so they don’t have to get buses to drive kids home after sport’s practices or games.

Parking passes at Penn Manor have been around for some time, and if the math is done, the paving for the parking lot is most likely paid off by now. The administrators should no longer be charging students from something that has already been paid for. The extra income from parking spaces might have been a necessity at the beginning after the parking lot was paved, but now it is just some extra cash for the school.

The administrators and school board staff should no longer be making students pay the fee. If the school needs more money, they should be either trying to raise taxes or be asking the government for more money. It is time for the students to stand up and stop paying for parking passes. The eleventh and twelfth grade students should be assigned parking passes according to their age and should no longer pay. If the cost continues or rises, it would just be taking advantage of the students.

High School Locked Down for Drug Search

By Kendal Phillips and Sarah Garner –

“It was planned.”

The answer to the question that most Penn Manor students were wondering.

At the beginning of second block Friday, students and staff were notified by an announcement to go into a modified lock down.  Teachers were to lock the doors and open the blinds.  For students and staff it was unexpected and teachers were not made aware of the upcoming drug search.

Officers from Southern Regional Police Department and their canine unit searched the high school for evidence of contraband.

Teachers received an e-mail at 10:05 a.m. informing them of a random drug search, also at that time Penn Manor School District’s website had a banner describing that a drug search was going on and that students were not in any danger.

The district website described the drug search.

This drug search was free of cost and it was the first time Penn Manor participated in a random search, according to Principal Philip Gale.

“We met the officer who handles the dog at the end of January, January 25,” said Gale.  “In December we actually had the officer do a demonstration for us [at Pequea Elementary school] and there were three school board members present with us to show how the dogs would detect.  They brought drugs with them and put them in different places (for the dog to detect).”

With the support of the Millersville Borough and Southern Regional Police Departments, a search of all lockers, bathrooms and locker rooms was conducted with the use of the drug-detection canines.

The school administration made an announcement saying the hope is that students continue to be part of the solution in helping to make schools safe places to learn by reporting any drug use to an adult.

The use of the drug detection canines adds an additional element of security for all students and adults at Penn Manor High School according to the letter that was sent home with the students.

Penn Manor’s school resource officer was not involved with the search because, “his burden of proof is much higher than our burden of proof,” said Gale.  “[School Administrators] have to have reasonable suspicion and [police] need probable cause.”

When dogs detected specific areas in the school, they were marked to be further investigated.  After the search was completed and the canines left, administrators searched the marked areas.  No lockers were opened while the police or canines were still in the school.

Several lockers were detected, about a dozen students were called out of class to watch their locker get searched, according to Gale.  There were at least two administrators who searched each locker, along with the student, if a student occupied the locker.

The areas that were most frequently hit (indicated by the dog) were water fountains and door handles.  These areas are commonly touched during the school day and traces of substances could be left on them.

Gale had three major reasons for the random drug search;

1. “We have had a number of drug violations over the drug and alcohol policy this year.”

2. Keeping the school a safe environment.

3. Southern Regional police are a part of our school district so we wanted  to work with them.

“There were a number of hits due to the sensitivity of the dogs,” said Gale, “nothing was found.”