Dear editor,
I follow the news about Iola because I am an alumna of Iola High School.
This week, I noticed a post on Facebook listing the requirements to allow students to attend prom.
I can understand not being suspended from school and even having passing grades in core classes as requirements. But to keep a student from attending prom because they have unpaid lunch bills is so terribly discriminatory.
Kids whose parents have money don’t have unpaid lunch bills. Poor kids like I was are certainly far more likely to.
I have recruited friends in Northwest Arkansas, my home region since college, who want to pay those lunch debts for as many kids as we can so they can experience prom.
I have reached out to the IHS principal with that offer. But I believe the community should be aware of what goes on at the high school and encourage administrators to think through actions that might seem inconsequential, but truly punish lower-income students.
Always a proud Mustang,
Becca (Bacon) Martin
IHS Class of 1976,
Fayatteville, Ark.
