The Activities Account Clerk is a mandatory District position. However, all schools are required to pay for the Clerk’s salary through ASB funds. San Juan Hills, being a new school, has gotten help from the District for the past five years, but is now expected to pay the position alone.
“I think that my position is very important to the school,” said Lori Haley, Activities Account Clerk.
The ASB Clerk’s job requires all accounting for school clubs and athletics, basic account budgeting, etc. to be done. It’s fundamentally like being an accountant for a large business, according to Haley.
“My goal is to make sure that any money raised or collected is used for the students,” Haley said. She then emphasized the need to use as much of the money from the year as possible on that class, due to the fact that when they graduate, there is no other way to use that money on them. “We want as close to a zero balance every year,” said Haley.
The District is absolutely right in the fact that the job position is extremely necessary and must be mandatory in all schools.
However, many people wonder, if the position is mandatory, why must the Clerk’s salary come from ASB funds and not the Districts’?
“Since SJHHS opened, the District has given the school additional funding to assist with support staff, one of those being the ASB Clerk. This is the first year that SJHHS has been expected to self-fund this position. ASB needs appropriate support staff to run appropriately,” said Marcus Walton, Chief Communications Officer of CUSD.
At SJHHS, Haley’s salary comes mainly from parking pass money, in which if ASB weren’t responsible for paying, prices for parking would probably drop significantly, according to Brooke Valderrama.
Due to the fact ASB funds pay for the Clerk’s salary, one would expect ASB to be able to give a raise, or even a friendly gift. However, all are prohibited by the District, considering the Clerk is still regarded as a District worker.
“Mrs. Haley deserves a lot more than we can give her,” said Lindsay Alarid, ASB student.
Although an exorbitant amount of money goes through ASB every year, many feel that the money raised is strictly for the students, and making ASB pay for an obligatory position, without control over any aspect of it, is a wrong approach.
