School incident unfortunate

Published 12:41 am Friday, October 3, 2008

Leave it to the press to heighten tensions between two schools, but unfortunately that’s exactly what happened last week as inflammatory statements in news stories escalated fears that there would be massive retaliation after a brawl between Mount Si and Issaquah students two weeks ago.

In this case, it’s not clear exactly what happened but the pictures of a disfigured face told a lot of the story. From there, it seems what couldn’t be proven was fanned with conjecture and speculation. The unfortunate incident highlights the fact that school brawls are not something that has gone away. But the way it was handled by the media was embarrassing to someone in the business. Fortunately, the way the schools handled it seemed to forego the nastiness touted by my colleagues.

It’s hard for me, sometimes, to understand how something can get so heated and result in physical violence but then again, I never was much of a fighter. OK, maybe in words at times, but not physically.

I hope that parents were doing what the school was urging you to do, talking to your kids and trying to understand what happened. In this case, it appears a former Mount Si student, one who had been expelled, was the culprit behind the attack on the Issaquah student.

I also hope that newspapers and TV and radio stations understand the impact they can have on a situation involving youth, that they can further escalate violence and fears. OK, maybe that’s hoping for a bit much, but we can always wish.

I would like to applaud the staff at Mount Si and Issaquah high schools for the way they handled the situation and the student leaders of both campuses who took it upon themselves to meet last week to squash any potential tension between the schools.