Student Panhandlers: Should School Fundraising be Allowed on Streets?
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Broward Schools already prohibit students from panhandling. Should other counties follow their lead?
Students trying to raise funds for school bands, athletic teams and school trips like to set up at busy intersections to collect money.
And one Florida lawmaker is trying to ban students in North Lauderdale, Fla. from doing that.
North Lauderdale City Commissioner Jerry Graziose says students are putting themselves at risk.
“Fundraising could be better handled not standing in the middle of a six lane highway,” Graziose said. “They’re walking in between cars at major intersections.”
Graziose has proposed a city ordinance that would ban students in kindergarten through 12th grade from panhandling.
Schools in Florida’s Broward County already prohibit students from panhandling to raise money for school-related events. And Graziose — who is also the Broward School District’s director of safety — says its time to extend the reach.
“Why are we only covering one segment of the children population?” he asked.
Another problem: the things students wear when they’re fundraising.
“To have young ladies and gentlemen out there in bathing suits will cause a distraction and could cause other issues that we’d like to avoid,” Grazoise says.
Some of his fellow commissioners have already expressed support for the ordinance, as well as Mayor Jack Brady.
The North Lauderdale Commission is expected to take up the issue next month.