24 May 2016
Flathead High vandals must be punished — but not by the school district!
May is the month for outbreaks of anal retentive stupidity by stressed high school educators and administrators. For example, a few days ago in little Amite City, Louisiana, the high school’s valedictorian was stripped of his cap and gown as he entered the graduation chamber, and forced to watch the ceremony from the cheap seats. His offense? Sporting a modest goatee that violated the school’s dress code. His family, of course, also was humiliated and thus unjustly punished along with him.
Could a similar unjust exclusion from a graduation ceremony occur at Flathead High School? Yes — and unless School District 5’s trustees make wise decisions at their meeting this evening, 21 graduating students could be exiled to the cheap seats, there to sit in shame with their humiliated parents and family members. Their offense? Being suspected of vandalizing FHS on 10 May.
Thus far, none of the 21 suspects has been arrested. Kalispell’s police are concluding their investigation. Then prosecutors must decide whether to bring criminal charges against the young men, all 18 or older. Those who face criminal charges will have the right to an attorney, the right to a public trial, and the right to present a defense.
As students at Flathead High School, however, they have few rights and now face angry administrators who, reports the Daily InterLake’s Megan Strickland, are already issuing suspensions from school and bans from graduation:
Parents of students involved in the incident received letters last week from Kalispell Public Schools Superintendent Mark Flatau saying that they and their children had an opportunity to go before the school board and make their case.
“You have the right to attend the meeting and will be given a specific time to address the board unless you waive this right,” the letter to one family reads. “The purpose of the meeting will be for the board to make a determination as to whether your son was involved in the incident that led to the recommendation for denial of participation in the graduation ceremony; and to make a determination as to whether denial of participation in the graduation ceremony is appropriate.”
One parent confirmed that her son received a four-day suspension and was told he cannot walk in the graduation ceremony.
School officials have not released details into what punishments were handed out for the incident.
Collective punishment and de facto double jeopardy
There’s no reason for the school district to take any action against these students. They broke into and vandalized a public building. But there was no academic offense, such as plagiarism or cheating on a test. Therefore, let the constable, the prosecutor, the courts, and the corrections system handle the matter.
A graduation ban would be more than the functional equivalent of double jeopardy. It would be collective punishment, a life long humiliation visited upon not just the student but his family and friends. By definition, that’s unjust.
But FHS authorities are not thinking about about justice. They’re thinking about revenge, about exercising one last opportunity to remind errant and disrespectful youth who’s in charge.
These administrators see a graduation ban both as rightful retribution for defying authority, and as a way of deterring future graduates from behavior that embarrasses and infuriates school authorities.
School District 5’s trustees need to reject that anal retentive approach to this situation. Instead, they should allow the suspected vandals to be full participants in the graduation ceremony. Send these 21 young men who may have gone astray into the adult world not wearing a scarlet letter, not with a sanction that generates everlasting resentment, but with a second chance, with proof that the foundation of a just society is charity, not malice.