1233 Noble Hills Place
Boone, IA 50036
March 4, 2013
Boone School Board
Boone Community Schools
500 7th St,
Boone, IA 50036
Dear School Board:
Boone High School faces a problem that needs to be addressed. I am speaking of the littering
problems Boone High School is experiencing in the school parking lots. This problem gives the
high school a poor image in the eyes of the community. To solve this problem, one of two things
must occur. Either the parking lots need trashcans, or Boone High students should have more
of an incentive to not litter.
The problem is easy to notice; a quick walk in the front or back parking lots of
Boone High will show. You may notice a variety of pop cans, paper cups, or
plastic bottles during a walk through in the parking lots. Perhaps a student has left behind a
fast food bag that was bought during lunch. Even the sight of various articles
of clothing may be found frozen to the ground. Most of these items should be in
the trash but as I have witnessed, these littered items are not an uncommon sight.
Littering not only looks bad but also is illegal in the state of Iowa. This fact does not seem to
influence many students, however, because littering takes place almost every day. If the force of
law where to have more influence with school littering, I’m sure the amount of garbage would
decrease. I don’t think many students would want to pay a minimum fine of $65 for tossing a
cup from Taco Johns. Not only that, but, empowering littering regulations would also lesson
another illegal activity many students participate in – smoking. Although many students easily
hide their smoking, the cigarette buds in the parking lot expose the problem clearly. So,
patrolling the parking lots and issuing littering citations could be helpful.
Using the law to end littering doesn’t only need to be about fines though. Another punishment
students could face might be labor in the form of gathering trash in the parking lots. This would
not only help keep the parking lots clean but also give students the incentive to not litter again.
Even if this punishment couldn’t go into effect, another solution could be volunteering to clean
the parking lots. This would be beneficial to the school because no one would need to be hired
to clean up the parking lots. Also, certain students who may need volunteer hours to receive the
Silver Cord award.
The problem with volunteering may be finding students to volunteer. Nowadays students are
busy with any of the following: extracurricular activities, school work, and money paying jobs. A
School Board
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March 4, 2013
possible solution, as mentioned by Mark Ashby, Director of Buildings & Grounds, could be
informing students of volunteering opportunities in the parking lots. Another possibility is giving
students more time for volunteering by implementing an optional class day similar to the middle
school. This class day would consist of students doing volunteer work with their advisees on two
hour early out days.
Even with all of these ideas one major change could help solve the problem—placing trashcans
in the lots. Currently, there are only two trashcans outside of the school, both of which are at the
entrance to the building. This is a problem because students coming from distant parking
spaces have a longer distance to litter, suggesting that the action of littering is more likely. In
fact, from a sample survey of 30 students I have found that 70% of students believe littering
would lessen if there were more trash cans. Not only that, but, 47% of students said they do liter
in the parking lots and 86% of those students said they would stop littering if there were more
trash cans. This suggests that trashcans would be influential in ending littering.
One problem faced with adding trashcans to the school parking lot would be the cost. With help
from Mr. Ashby, I have found that it would cost from $1000 to $2000 to add just five trashcans. I
say five trash cans because I believe the back lot needs two cans, one in the middle and one at
the Northwest intersection of 8th and Crawford Street, and the front lot needs three cans, one at
the end, the middle, and the front of the lot. As for the price two solutions could be applied.
Either part of the school funding could go towards these trashcans or the students could
organize a fundraiser. So I don’t believe cost would be too much of an issue.
A positive that the trash cans could bring includes saving money. According to Mr. Ashby, “it is
expensive to hire someone to pick up the litter.” Upon further discussion on this subject, Mr.
Ashby informed me that the trash cans would eventually save money because it costs a smaller
amount to manage cans full of trash than paying someone to pick up the trash off the ground. Of
course, this falls along the same lines as having the students clean the litter off the ground. So
if both ideas were implemented I’m sure the school would save money.
The school definitely needs something to be done about the littering in the parking lots. Whether
the school involves the students in solving the problem or using trashcans to lessen the
problem, a solution is needed. I hope my ideas are helpful in coming to a solution, and I hope
that someday Boone High may have a clean parking lot.
Sincerely,
Ryan Young
Boone High Senior