Newton North and Catholic Memorial administrators responded appropriately and well to the incidents at the playoff game. They didn't blame only the Catholic Memorial students for their slurs. They acknowledged Newton North students were also to blame and shared responsibility for the incident.
Significantly, they are discussing openly that intent isn't the only factor, but that it does matter. Most students likely didn't mean more than sophomoric banter. The impact it had on others has to be taken into account. The admins are finding the balance between not overly-punishing, recognizing there wasn't bad conscious intent, but providing consequences for the harmful impact to others.
They taught the students why what they did was wrong. There were consequences which weren't over the top. They spoke to the press openly and admitted the circumstances, the challenges, the consequences, and the response. They made this into a learning opportunity for children who still need to do some growing and maturing. They turned it into a learning opportunity for both communities, that something unfortunate needs to be dealt with appropriately, without looking the other way or demonizing students who made a mistake. Both communities will be able to move on, better for learning a lesson consciously.
Well done.
And guess what? Surpise! No coverups, No OCR investigations, no PR firm contracts, no retaliation against those who complained and no costly legal expenses! Perhaps these knucklehead administrators and city solicitor here can learn from this demonstration on how to properly handle an unfortunate incident without turning it into a National story simply because of stubbornness, a quest for secrecy and the need to retaliate against victims and complaintants...for simply asking the administrators to address a problem.
Those in positions of power in Melrose - city and schools alike - appear more concerned with suppressing bad news than dealing sincerely with the underlying issues that may cause it.
This was a perfect example of administration (elsewhere) seeing students behave abhorently, taking IMMEDIATE and correct action, denying nothing, being honest with all concerned, and paving the way for a better future. Melrose does exactly the opposite, every single time. And there are enough hateful stupid people to keep it going that way, or at least was. Now with CKK's powerful letter and resignation, more have been made aware of the broader issues.
Yes what the previous poster is absolutely true. Right now they've got the administration and School Committee organizing their MEF pitbulls to try and force-feed their "budget deficit" and their proposed cuts down our throats. Curious that Guilfoil hasn't come forward with a bunch of fluffy BS to deflect away from the big stuff that is now in the public awareness, but maybe they've paid extra for some big splash in the coming days. Agree, they all need to be forced from their positions, ASAP! The public is not going to sit still for another budget bamboozle like what they are trying to do. And we're not going to stand for more of their faux outrage and reassurances (lies) at the continuing scandals. They are Bad. Period. End of Story. They are liars and they are incompetent. Those who support this administration are wrong, and have been proven so in every way. What fools that they think they can marshall the forces to cram the lies down our throats again. They lost by an almost 2 to 1 margin in November and they have no increased credibility since then. Just the opposite, in fact. They look and are worse than ever. CKK paved the way for the rest of us, and now it's our turn to step up, say NO, write letters to all papers every single week, show up at their meetings (even if they are pretend). SAY NO and Demand Change. CT must go, and if they won't do their duty to remove her, they must go, too (and should even if she does).
Oh pleeeeeeease save it. This is the typical MM approach of choosing any side of an issue to criticize MHS. There were CM students who were not chanting that were banned from the subsequent game because of something their classmates did. You know full well if the exact same thing happened in Melrose this board will be full of anonymous parents whining and complaining because their kids was banned for something someone else did.
You're obviously choosing to completely miss the point - two points, actually. One - the CM/Newton North thing was was a bunch of dumb kids acting like a bunch of dumb kids. Not quite the same thing as a Melrose teacher telling a minority student to "go back to the plantation". Two - the administrations of both schools (and kids from both schools were at fault, not just the CM kids - in fact it was the Newton kids that started it, not that it matters) chose to immediately address the issue publicly, being clear that such behavior was totally unacceptable and would not be tolerated. In Melrose, the administration not only chose not to openly address the issue, they chose to try to cover it up. I suspect we won't see multiple OCR cases arising from the CM/Newton North incident. My conclusion is that you're full of crap.
Wow - this pleeeeeeease person really needs to take a course on "Critical Thinking". I guess it is true - you can't change stupid!
What about the sausagefest chants by Newton North?
