Have you noticed things around Alliance High School that are either new, in the progress of, or need improvement? Well so have the students, including myself. I have taken in the questions and concerns of my peers on the subjects of; pop machines, recycling bins, bathroom stalls not having doors, and the neglected greenhouse.  A follow up question was, “how do the decisions get passed”, and “what is the process?”

     I tried to interview Ms. Roberts, and Ms. James about these subjects, but unfortunately, neither one of them could answer all of my questions and I needed more answers. I finally emailed Mr. Unzicker, and was able to set up an interview at his office. Once I arrived, Dr. Unzicker and Sandi Morava, business manager, were both there and were actually discussing the school’s lunches and how to make them ‘better’.

     I asked them a total of four questions, the first was asking that besides fundraisers, what other ways is the school able to obtain money for certain things, or to fix things around the school? I gave him two examples; painting a mural, or getting better water fountains. Mr. Unzicker’s reply was, “We usually don’t fundraise for things like that , we do that through our general fund, and the way we receive money for the general fund is locally, state, and federal”, says Dr. Unzicker, “and the local is generated from property tax, the majority of the state funding comes from state aid, and then majority of the federal funding comes out of different programs, and they’re all different, like Special Education, for example, we get funding, currently we get a lot of funding from a Esser, which is elementary and secondary schools’ emergency release fund.”

     The second question was asking who is usually the one that makes the “final call” when making decisions for the school, and what’s a brief summary of the process? Dr. Unzicker’s response, “Well, it depends on the decision’s about, so if it’s about policy, that usually runs through the attorney, me and then it goes to the board for approval.” He also mentioned that he has weekly administrative meetings and they all discuss  every week so they all have a pretty good idea of what they want to ask for, policy wise, and budgeting decisions, that they have a finance committee, three of the board members. Dr. Unzicker adds, “Sandi and I do a lot of the work to create a budget.”

     Next question was covering the issues with some bathroom stalls not having doors and the greenhouse being neglected, and I asked Dr. Unzicker if those issues will be solved in the near future. As soon as I mentioned the bathroom stall doors, Dr. Unzicker quickly told me that he had just found out about the inconvenience earlier that day, May 2nd. “It’s funny that you say that,” says Dr. Unzicker, “because I just found out about that today, so I’ve created a summer maintenance list of projects we’re gonna do this summer, and that’s one of them that’s on my list.” When getting on the subject of the greenhouse, Dr. Unzicker told me that he has not had a proposal brought to him yet. In his own words, “That greenhouse has not been very well utilized, I’ve been here 10 years, and that greenhouse has never been utilized well. There have been a few things in there, when I was first here they used it a little bit, and I think it’s kind of gone a ways, so it’s kind of in a state of disrepair right now. I don’t know if you could even have anything in there that will survive.” He says that they had bought that greenhouse from a local gentleman, and that getting the repair for it would be the big question. Sandi says that the High School was, “They were supposed to bring up two proposals, one for what it would cost to refurbish the existing one, and what it would cost to completely replace it. I think as people and administrators have left and gone, there’s been some confusion over whose project it was.” She then mentioned that the greenhouse is “…one of the components that both of the companies that have given us proposals would like to do a share, for the school to be able to grow herbs, or some small vegetables that they could actually serve at the lunch.”

     Finally I asked about how most of the budget goes to mainly sports and the uniforms, and that band members have complained about having the same uniform every year. I added that other, smaller clubs have talked about how they can’t do certain things because the budget doesn’t quite allow them to. Dr. Unzicker answered, “that needs to be discussed with your A.D. because we’ve never turned anything down. The band was supposed to get uniforms several years ago, probably when Mr. Heidi was here, I think at the time, and they weren’t ready, they didn’t want them until they planned a trip, because they wanted new uniforms when they went on the trip. The difference is the other things are all on about a 5 year rotation because they get worn so much, like football, they get worn hard and they wear out faster, a jersey or pants, or whatever. Whereas a band uniform, you march in them, you’re not wearing them down, so those are on a 20 year rotation. It is time to buy band uniforms, but that’s never come forward, yet, and I think it was a surprise. They weren’t expecting to go on this Atlanta trip, and so that was kind of a surprise, so we need to look at possible band uniforms. I don’t know if we can get them in time though. Each coach and sponsor kind of projects what they want to the A.D. (Activity Director, Ms. James) for approval and then the A.D. goes through the high school principal, through me, to get approval to get a purchase, and that big a purchase would have to go through the school board for approval as well, but they are due, you are correct.”

     This article is for the use of students or anyone who is curious, or believes that the issues at AHS are being ignored. Sometimes, you must be patient for the inconveniences to be solved. Dr. Unzicker, and the school board does try very hard to make the school better. I tried to make this article informative on how the process of decision making works in the board. If you have any questions, or concerns considering the school, I suggest you mention it at one of the school board meetings, you will be listened to, and your questions will be answered.