News Story: Two

After being charged by a Leaguetown grand jury with theft of between $1,500 and $20,000, Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Treasurer Mary Burns could face up to 10 years in jail.

“Mary has been having some health problems, but that doesn’t give her the right to take money that doesn’t belong to her,” Leaguetown PTA finance officer Jeannette Limpkin said.

Last month, auditors found $14,000, discrepancy following a yearly review of the organizations finances. The PTA has contributed thousands of dollars to the school for many projects.

“You just have to be very vigilant,” Superintendent Curtis King said. “We would certainly prosecute if we found a school employee who was taking activity funds.”

The PTA found $2,000 missing last fall and assumed she probably took more since a lot of the contributions are in cash.

“Mrs.Burns seems to be a caring person. I guess she got frustrated because she couldn’t provide for her family like others could, and she saw temptation and took it,” Junior English Teacher Marilyn Lenk said.

If found guilty, she will face a maximum of 10 years in jail or receive a fine of $150,000.

“It’s better for the kids to know what has happened rather than allowing undocumented gossip to spread and possibly some wrong conclusions made because we didn’t communicate,” Lenk said.

The kids planned for two weeks to go to the theatre to see Macbeth.

“Then Mrs. Lenk said it was cancelled. She didn’t give us any explanation and got upset when we kept asking why,” Junior James Grigsby said.

At the end of the last school year, records showed $78,000 in the PTA’s account and auditors looked over the books, $27,000 were in the account.

“Something we were afraid would tear our school apart actually has brought the school and PTA together,” Leaguetown PTA President Sydney Long said.

Principal Tonya King denied junior Jim Stack request to grow out his hair for charity due to the school dress code. The school board is having a meeting on this issue Monday.

“Had I approved Jim’s request, then I would have students everyday asking if they could break the dress code,”King said.

The school’s dress code states that male students’ hair must not be longer than collar-length and must be of a natural color.

“Donating my hair to Locks of Love is a very special project to me,” Stack said. “She[ the president of Locks of Love] said the best way I could help would be to grow my hair long and donate it.”

The group Locks of Love requires at least 10 inches of hair for donation, it would take between a year and 18 months for Stack to grow out his hair. Stack agreed he would tuck his hair inside his shirt to no distract students if allowed to grow out his hair.

“He could have a fundraiser and donate the money to the organization. principal King said. “I would be more than willing to help with the fundraiser.”

Locks of love receives about 200 requests from families who cannot afford a wig, and every month they have to turn down about 150 of these requests.

“I hope the board approves my request,” said Stack.

The student council wrote a letter to the school board in support of stack. The letter was signed by 350 students. The council listed  150 students who were willing to grow their hair to donate it to Locks of Love. Seventy-eight of the 150 students were male.

“I can’t comment on this issue right now,” school board president, Bill Valdez said. “We will discuss it at the board meeting next week .”

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