Do We Really Need to Pay Celebrities to Speak at NJ Schools?

On June 1, Grammy award winning singer Ashanti was paid 20,000 dollars to speak to the students at Atlantic City High School. Really? Is this what we pay school tax for? I keep reading where Atlantic City as a whole is losing money,  but I guess the school is doing really well. 

With all due respect to Ahanti,  who was in town anyway to perform at the City’s multicultural festival, Couldn’t Atlantic City High School have put  the money to better use?  The city wasn’t even paying her to perform. Instead she got to stop off at  the High School, lead assemblies for the 7^th and 8^th graders, meet privately with a few students and be interviewed by the High School radio station., and pick up a quick twenty grand!

School officials say the payment was typical for a celebrity speaker. Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Donna Haye tells the Press Of Atlantic City that “She was paid like any other vendor”

So I ask again, with school taxes being what they are for residents, do we really need to pay people twenty grand to speak to students? What, if anything, are the kids really going to get out of this except to say that they met Ashanti?  Was Snooki busy? Oh yeah, she was already paid  32,000 to speak at Rutgers!