Am I being blackmailed to pay for school contributions ? (1 Viewer)

[YouKnowWho]

I attend a public school and my parents are pensioners. So I have graduated year 12 and filled out the form with teachers signatures to sign out (removed from the enrollment register) of school, however when I submitted this to the office they said that I haven't payed my school contributions( around $300 and something) and I cannot sign out unless I pay for them. I have already payed for the compulsory fees such as art supply money etc. If I am not mistaken contributions are optional. So why am I not allowed to sign out unless I pay for it? So after all this I asked for an interview with the principle and she said the same thing and told me that I don't need to worry because not signing out will not affect me at all. I'm not sure if this is true because I have heard that this can look bad when you look for a job and I also cannot get my atar if I don't sign out? Nevertheless I would like to sign out just to finalize everything and confirm that I have indeed finished high school.

I want to complain but I just want to confirm that this is actually blackmail and they are not allowed to do this. Am I correct?

 

[OMGITzJustin]

have you asked your classmates or friends if they have to pay the fee?

if everyone else has to pay it, then obviously you have to aswell

 

[YouKnowWho]

have you asked your classmates or friends if they have to pay the fee?

if everyone else has to pay it, then obviously you have to aswell

How does that mean I obviously have to pay as well.That just means she's blackmailing the entire year. Does all the other public schools do this as well? She has a habit of doing things like this, last time she said we couldn't get our year 12 jerseys unless we payed for all our contributions. Wth...

 

[anomalousdecay]

How does that mean I obviously have to pay as well.That just means she's blackmailing the entire year. Does all the other public schools do this as well? She has a habit of doing things like this, last time she said we couldn't get our year 12 jerseys unless we payed for all our contributions. Wth...

My school had a similar policy, but you only had to pay for them once. I only paid on sign-out day. You can't accumulate the same contribution fee so that you have to pay it six times. You should only pay it once, at the end of high school, otherwise it just seems ridiculous.

 

[Crobat]

Yeah, the same thing at my public school when I signed out. I don't think it's blackmail - it's literally like you didn't pay your school fees

 

[RealiseNothing]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it is blackmail (though maybe my school was different?)

I know at my school the deputy principal specifically said they were optional and many people signed out without paying them.

 

[JohnMaximus]

Should reply to the PP "if it doesn't matter then just sign me out".

 

[Emily Howard]

I attend a public school and my parents are pensioners. So I have graduated year 12 and filled out the form with teachers signatures to sign out (removed from the enrollment register) of school, however when I submitted this to the office they said that I haven't payed my school contributions( around $300 and something) and I cannot sign out unless I pay for them. I have already payed for the compulsory fees such as art supply money etc. If I am not mistaken contributions are optional. So why am I not allowed to sign out unless I pay for it? So after all this I asked for an interview with the principle and she said the same thing and told me that I don't need to worry because not signing out will not affect me at all. I'm not sure if this is true because I have heard that this can look bad when you look for a job and I also cannot get my atar if I don't sign out? Nevertheless I would like to sign out just to finalize everything and confirm that I have indeed finished high school.

I want to complain but I just want to confirm that this is actually blackmail and they are not allowed to do this. Am I correct?

m8 dis is a serious response

yes dey r blackmailin u, dese r "contributions" or donations so u do not hav to pay it my school tried to do this to me n block us from goin to our formal

we contacted da department ov education n get da school in a lot ov shit, sure i was happy to pay da $30 fo my year 8 food tech class but i dnt hav any electives to pay n i sure as hell wasnt gona pay a contribution esp when me family cldnt afford it

please contact da department ov education n name n shame ur school to ACA or sumthang cos dis shit is fucked

 

[RealiseNothing]

cos dis shit is fucked

I'm not sure why, but I lost it at this.

 

[anomalousdecay]

I'm not sure why, but I lost it at this.

I lost it at this.

 

[YouKnowWho]

m8 dis is a serious response

yes dey r blackmailin u, dese r "contributions" or donations so u do not hav to pay it my school tried to do this to me n block us from goin to our formal

we contacted da department ov education n get da school in a lot ov shit, sure i was happy to pay da $30 fo my year 8 food tech class but i dnt hav any electives to pay n i sure as hell wasnt gona pay a contribution esp when me family cldnt afford it

please contact da department ov education n name n shame ur school to ACA or sumthang cos dis shit is fucked

Thanks for the reply everyone. Although I'm not sure if this response is legit or not, I hope it is because it gives me hope. I would love to get that bitchy principle in shit. How do I go about doing this ? I don't know where to complain.

 

[Emily Howard]

I JUST TOLD YOU

CALL UP DA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/ or http://education.gov.au/

pretty easy to google

 

[Tasteless]

contribution is optional, also 300 is ridic (unless it's several years worth, which it probalo is)

 

[LoveHateSchool]

Yeah my school didn't do this. They'd have them on the school account yearly to let people know they were an option, but they didn't actually chase people who opted to not pay the voluntary $66 a year or whatever. They didn't check that stuff on signing out, just that you gave your textbooks back.

 

[Quadro]

bah, this sux..

 

[YouKnowWho]

I JUST TOLD YOU

CALL UP DA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/ or http://education.gov.au/

pretty easy to google

Yeahh I know but like do I call them up?? Because I can't seem to find anywhere on those sites related to a complaint. Are they even going to take me seriously.

 

[YouKnowWho]

Should reply to the PP "if it doesn't matter then just sign me out".

Exactly, if it doesn't matter then why did she even make it the rule in the first place. She KNOWS we are going to want to sign out thus we have no choice but to pay for the contributions.

 

[enoilgam]

I want to complain but I just want to confirm that this is actually blackmail and they are not allowed to do this. Am I correct?

I'm not quite sure what this is to be honest. I've heard from a few people about "signing out" from school but I never had to do it personally. Your HSC and ATAR wont be affected, although they might not give you a letter of recommendation (which really only helps with part time work post-school and not much else). However, given what your principal said, I dont think it will be an issue - it might have been a miscommunication on the part of your school or someone's attempt to get money out of you.