In my day, students respected authority and were taught to cooperate with police and emergency personnel. Today, everyone thinks they know better than the constituted authority that we pay to protect us and keep the peace. When you ignore an order to disperse and place an officer at risk, you should not be dismayed by a show of legal force.
School yard fights, such as the recent one at Everett High School, are a perennial way of settling scores among youth. But when you choose to fight that fight on school grounds, in my mind you forfeit the right to complain about how school officials respond as long as it is done in a responsible and evenhanded way. That’s what we pay them for.
To play the race card in this situation is as lame an excuse as any I’ve heard. The simple fact is that parents should not be urging their children to further acts of disrespect against authority, but should be busy grounding their kids in appropriate behavior. Suspension or expulsion was a shame in our family, one that would be met with further punishment and insistence that the child write a letter of apology to all parties he or she had wronged. Never would we have sided with that child’s willful, unruly or threatening actions.
My gratitude goes out to the Everett Police Department and the EHS authorities whose swift actions may have prevented a worse incident. We’re proud and grateful that you serve this city so well. And to the parents of those kids directly involved, you should thank God all that police brass was close at hand to keep your children safe rather than sorry. Maybe it’s you who should be writing the letters of apology.
Clint Kelly
Everett
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