I do not understand the WCPSS budget.

Apparently they needed to cut funding, so they cut custodians at schools in favor of contracts for night crews and cut that, too and changed the thermostats. But then they bought 10 laptops for every classroom.

How can they cut heating and air conditioning, custodians and basic needs yet find the funding for decently expensive laptops? It just doesn’t make any sense.

This is similar to a household splurging on the newest apple computer and getting a brand new flat screen, but the person can no longer afford the cable and Wi-Fi to run his new devices.

The bathrooms at our school are absolutely disgusting and unsanitary. I actually cannot write what I have seen in them in a newspaper article because it’s that unsettling.

It is very evident that these bathrooms have been left uncleaned for days even up to a week. There are never paper towels, ever.

During the flu season, which we are currently in, it’s absolutely imperative that we have sanitary facilities, and we do not. The bathrooms, to keep students safe, should really be sanitized every day, and this would obviously be a lot, so even every other day would be great, but that doesn’t even happen. The trash might get emptied in these bathrooms, but does that really matter when there is unsightly things on the floor as well as germs covering the sinks, floors, handles, toilets, etc.

Teachers, who already don’t get paid enough, have to clean their own rooms and vacuum on top of their teaching duties.

The teachers’ rooms get vacuumed maybe once a week and not very thoroughly, so this basically forces them to vacuum their own floors with their own vacuums and their own vacuum bags.

If teachers want their rooms dusted, they have to do it because their rooms are never dusted, not even once a year. Most teachers already have to sanitize their own room (the desks, computers, etc.) with products they buy with their money. It is unfair to ask them to now vacuum their rooms on top of all the things they already have to do.

Students already pass massive amount of germs to their peers and everything they are touching.

During this winter season, it is very easy to get sick. It is also very easy to prevent getting sick if you are in a clean, sanitary environment. Since both teachers and students are in an unclean environment, they are at an even higher risk of getting sick. This can cause lower attendance, which can lead to lower grades.

Also, simple things throughout our school have been forgotten like rugs outside of the door, and although this seems unimportant, it is extremely important to the safety of students and the pockets of the school system.

Students can very easily slip. Every morning when I walk through the 1800 hall entrance, there is no rug inside. The past few weeks there has been some rain, and I have witnessed people slip, and I have personally also almost slipped. This is extremely dangerous to the safety of students, and if a student gets injured from this, he is able to sue the school system.

So in the long run, these budget cuts have an extremely negative effect on students and teachers.