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The Thunderbeat

The Student News Site of Bellevue West Senior High School

The Thunderbeat

The Student News Site of Bellevue West Senior High School

The Thunderbeat

Prom charges admission

Prom+charges+admission

By StretchyBill (20100501184318 Uploaded by France3470) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
For the first time in about 15 years, Bellevue West students will have to pay admission to attend prom. Parents were notified Mar. 10 by a letter sent home.

Bellevue West Activities Director, Kevin Broderick, is in charge of passing any major decisions, such as the decision to charge for admission into prom this year.

“Money has always been budgeted a certain amount in the past. There is always a setting up for prom, a setting up for after-prom, same with homecoming. But all that is going away,” Broderick said. “That money now is being put towards curricular items and situations. It’s just that things are getting very, very tight with the district budget. You know, this year there isn’t a charge for after-prom but next year there will be. It will most likely coincide with the cost of prom so you can get into both for a single price.”

The money the district previously gave Bellevue West for prom was $3500. With the student body of Bellevue West growing and the cost of venues rising, problems occur with trying to fit the budget.

“We are the only school that I know of that hasn’t charged for all of these things. And there is gonna be a lot more of that down the road here. Like I said, the district can no longer afford to pay. Now, these organizations are going to have to be mostly self-sustaining. They are going to have to start fundraising and charging or something along those lines, just like other schools. If you look at all the other schools around us, they have been doing this for years. And now all of a sudden we are finding ourselves in that position where we are going to have to do the same thing,” Broderick said.

Junior Senate sponsor Kim Gangwish suggested charging for admission this year in order to help pay for the costs of prom.

“We are given a strict budget from the district that is not flexible. With a normal prom costing somewhere between $6500-7500, and the fact that we are only given $3500, the budget is very tight. If students want a nice prom, they’re going to have to be willing to pay for one,” Gangwish said.

Many Bellevue West students don’t oppose to the cost of prom. Junior Senate member Carsen Monaco helps with the preparation of prom.

“It’s not really the district’s job to pay for our fun. I don’t see why people think paying $10 for a ticket is that outrageous just because because they have never had to pay before. If a girl is willing to pay over $200 for a dress and a guy willing to rent an expensive tux, you think paying for ticket wouldn’t be that bad,” Monaco said.

Other schools such as MIllard South, Papillion-LaVista and Ralston are charging $20 for admission into prom. Some students oblige to paying for prom, but think negatively of the idea of paying.

“I just think it’s sort of bogus,” junior Nick Roy said. “It’s not our fault the budget crapped-out on us. So why should we have to suffer the consequences?”

Bellevue West’s “Under the Stars in Central Park” prom will be held April 12, 2014. Ticket purchases will be available in the library today through April 9.

Sophia Vanfosson
Reporter 

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