Many Hillsborough students occasionally exceed their balance, creating an open fine under his or her name. When students’ balances fall below zero dollars, their genesis accounts freeze. Students can no longer view their grade for a class.

I see a major flaw in this system. Never should a punishment for an open fine be associated with a student’s learning.

Many students aren’t even the ones loading money into their lunchtime accounts. For students whose parents pay for lunches, how is it justified to forbid a student from seeing grades on Genesis?

Academics and lunchtime funds should be treated independently. Blocking Genesis is not the answer. 

Students are also fed up with the current process.  

“It is a flawed system because owing money is unrelated to your grades,” senior Michael Atlas said. “It prevents kids from monitoring their own progress.”

There are other ways to ensure students pay fines. Perhaps, students should not be able to purchase food or other goods from the school when there is an open fine.

Overall, impeding on a student’s ability to view grades is not the answer when dealing with open fines.