a teacher’s tires being slashed by a student on the edge of
campus were both recorded by the cameras. So was a recent
food-flinging incident, which resulted in the suspension of a
number of football players on the freshman team.
a teacher’s tires being slashed by a student on the edge of campus were both recorded by the cameras. So was a recent food-flinging incident, which resulted in the suspension of a number of football players on the freshman team.
That prompted a protest from one angry mom who felt her son should be given a “hall pass” for the infraction.
Hardly. What he should receive, besides the one-day suspension, is some disciplinary action at home. It’s a simple equation: He knowingly broke the rules, he hurt his team by doing so and he must suffer the consequences.
Developing character through discipline is far more important than winning a freshman football game. Participation in athletics is a privilege, not a right. Moreover, examples of spoiled-brat professional athletes abound, and parents need to understand that mollycoddling junior because he made the football team is exactly the wrong thing to do. That parental fumble is exactly what breeds the notion, all too common in athletes, that they deserve to be treated differently.
Assistant Principal Greg Camacho-Light said it perfectly: “Discipline should never take into consideration whether they have a game that night.”
It made us wince to read that Camacho-Light has been routinely pelted by food items while walking on campus. Frankly, the cameras should be used to nab one or two of those students and expel them from Gilroy High School. No administrator should be subjected to that kind of assault, disrespect and abuse.
Perhaps the complaining mother of the freshman football player should spend a few days walking the campus with Camacho-Light.
There are plans to install more cameras on campus. Good. The district should even consider hiring a part-time person, perhaps on a contract basis, to monitor those cameras.
GUSD should use the security devices without hesitation to patrol the campus. There are upward of 2,500 students at GHS, and it’s a huge and important task to keep an eye on things.
Children will, of course, act childish and make mistakes. But the discipline that follows must be consistent and clear, otherwise our society suffers as a result.
It’s a shame that bad behavior dictates the need for security cameras, but that’s the stark reality. Using the tools necessary to enforce the rules that ensure the safety and comfort of GHS students is the highest objective.
Hopefully, as students get suspended and expelled for violating rules and/or laws, the message will become so clear that even the knuckleheads will understand that consequences follow inappropriate actions.
Gilroy High School has made significant disciplinary strides in recent years, but clearly there is work to do.
The security cameras are a welcome addition to the effort to teach students to respect one another, the staff and the public property that they are privileged to use.
