A.C.C. parents unhappy with extra school fees

It’s report card time for most Belizean high schools and for many students and parents that also means catching up with any outstanding school fees. Several angry parents called News Five today complaining of charges levied by Anglican Cathedral College. Complaints centred on a multiplicity of bills for various fundraising activities that many parents thought were voluntary, not mandatory. The largest was a “donation fee” of fifty dollars required of each student. We spoke by phone to A.C.C. Principal Ismael Requeña who said that at the beginning of the school year the staff decided on the fee to replace the various fundraising efforts made by homerooms over the course of the year … although each homeroom could still do its own fundraising to reduce the charge per student. Parents who could not come up with the money for this or other fees were not given report cards. It is reported that tempers flared in a number of instances when parents confronted administrators Requeña and Vice Principal Patrick Faber. Requeña told News Five that several parents having difficulty meeting payments met with him to arrange for extensions and he is happy to make similar arrangements with those in comparable circumstances.