By Opinion Editor, Ramela Ohanian

            Last Wednesday morning, about 60 truancy tickets were handed out.
            The rule is that if a student is not in class between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., that student is automatically truant (this doesn’t mean that you can leave halfway through 5th period though, sorry guys). But, what about the students that are actually coming to school at 8:30, and were not ditching?
            Shouldn’t there be a difference?
            A truant student is a student who stays away from school without permission (Dictionary.com). The students that were given the tickets last Wednesday were tardy, granted, but at least they came to school.
            A truancy ticket is an extreme measure of punishment for someone who was just tardy. Not to undermine the severity of being tardy, but a ticket seems a bit extreme.
            Instead, why not give those students Saturday school? ‘Cause seriously, what students wants to go to school on a Saturday? That’s punishment enough. However, if a student is out on the streets ditching, then give them a truancy ticket, hence, the “truant” part. Because after all, the tickets that were handed out were not ‘tardy’ tickets, they were truancy tickets.
            Besides that, I feel as if we, as a school unit, are being used to collect revenue for the state. Are these tickets being handed out to students so that they can stop going late to class, or are they being handed out to gain money for the state?
            For example, everyone knows that our school has major traffic problems in the mornings. Instead of placing a mere two cops at a couple of street corners to regulate cars, cops are handing out tickets left and right for illegal turns and whatnot that drivers are being forced to make due to the intensity of the traffic.
            Unfair much? I think so.
            Just like instead of patrolling the streets looking for students ditching, the cops are standing at our school’s entrance handing out tickets.
            Am I the only one that feels like a dollar sign?