A middle school principal recently canceled a field trip because students owed lunch money. Is this ethical and/or policy?

“While some students have been denied the privilege of attending some school functions due to unresolved fees, no middle school field trip has been canceled,” Charlotte Gallemore, administrative director of middle schools, said in a statement forwarded to The Informer.

She said schools notify parents far in advance about activities that require additional fees “in order for parents to resolve any outstanding debt.”

“Parents having difficulties paying outstanding fees should contact the school’s administration to establish a payment plan that is comfortable for both the school and the parent,” she wrote.

• Online: www.cpsb.org.

Parade Performers Usually Lip-Sync

I watched the Macy’s parade, and I wonder, do the singers really sing the songs or do they lip-sync?

They lip-sync.

But they don’t always do it well.

Case in point: “American Idol” alumnus Scott McCreery began lip-syncing a second or so after his song “The Trouble with Girls” had begun playing during his appearance in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

He wasn’t the only one, either. Pop singer Avril Lavigne, busy talking to a fellow turkey-float rider, missed the cue for her performance as well.

It’s tradition

Lip-syncing, an integral part of the parade, is a long-standing pop music and TV tradition.

In his book “TV-a-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol” Jake Austen talks about the role lip-syncing played in rock music’s early days and says purists are wrong to be so dismissive of “the practice of miming to one’s own record.”

“On a live daily program such as the original ‘Bandstand,’ there wasn’t sufficient time or resources for rehearsals, sound men, or roadies. If no one had lip-synched there would have been no guests on those shows. …,” he writes.

“If you are unwilling to dig a lip-synched performance you are dismissing decades of important documentation. … Lip-synching is an art form and a convenience and has been an integral part of pop music — especially on TV — for more than half a century. For any elitists who can’t dig this, read my lips: ‘Get over it.’ ”

• Online: www.youtube.com.

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098, press 5 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.

(FROM MGNONLINE)