OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL
East Islip High School
May 16, 2002
TO:
Allison Harden
Senior Class President
FROM: Rhia
Warren, Principal [initials]
RE:
Response to letter regarding senior privileges
Dear Allison,
Thank you for your well-written letter expressing the
complaints/concerns of your classmates. You make some good points from a
student's point of view. I must, however, operate from a different
perspective as the principal.
I am responsible for the safety of everyone in my
building and I must make all decisions with that responsibility first and
foremost in my mind. My decision to keep all students in the building was
made to do just that. I have to make sure that no one is able to leave and
bring items back that could jeopardize the safety of people in the
building. As it was rumored that another food fight is eminent, I will not
allow anyone to leave to until the defiance and disobedience subsides. At
this point, all I hear is talk of further protest and disobedience and
that is counter-productive to your cause! Perhaps you should find out who
is "threatening" our safety with their threats of further
disobedience as they are the ones who are holding us hostage, not me!
As far as only punishing the seniors, seniors are the
only ones who have privilege to leave the building. That is indeed a privileges. If the
privilege interferes with the safety of the building,
it can be suspended. If juniors had privileges to leave the building,
those privileges would have been suspended too!
Finally, the students who participated in this
incident made a planned
decision. A lot of people knew about the plan and NO ONE TOLD! We now know
that it was planned for months and that it has been public knowledge
amongst some students since Monday. NO ONE TOLD! This organized effort and
code of silence is frightening and reminds those of us in authority of
serious school incidents that have happened in other states because NO ONE
TOLD! We will not allow our safety to be jeopardized by those who organize
themselves to be defiant or by those who become participants by their
silence!
I would love nothing more than to grant your request
to "PLEASE LET US RETURN TO NORMAL!" but I didn't disrupt the
normalcy! Now, my focus is to keep
you safe! I will decide whether or not I will reinstate the privileges
based on the behavior of the students. The
behavior that is being exhibited at this point is detrimental to your
cause!
I am available to meet with you and the other senior
class officers to discuss this further. Please arrange a time with Ms.
Lanigan, my secretary.
