BEHS community weighs in on the WCSH-6 fight video story

"I've never felt unsafe in school"

Dear WCSH6 Editor,
      I am a junior at Bonny Eagle High School and a journalism student. I have attended SAD6 since kindergarten, and next year I plan to graduate. Not once have I ever felt unsafe within my school. I am surrounded by teachers and administrators who want me to thrive and succeed. They support each student non-stop and only want the best for each individual. I know some teachers and administrators who even arrive at the crack of dawn and stay late after school every day of the week to make sure their students do well.
      Now, teachers are responsible to help each student learn; should they be responsible for dealing with the immature actions of two feisty freshman who clearly had a feud outside of school? Teachers and administrators are here to educate students and to make sure our education is given to us, not to guard the hallways like a prison.
      I find it utterly ridiculous that a news station would single out a school for one specific brawl which occurred early in the morning in a crowded hall. What these two girls engaged in was immature and uncalled for. They are giving our school, our teachers, our administrators, and our students a bad reputation.
     As a journalism student, I also do not see the credibility in this story. It was biased due to the fact there are two sides to every story. This fight was not between just one girl, there were two and you only interviewed one. Are you getting both sides? My guess is you're not.     
     You also argue that parents are “concerned.” It seems taht you only interviewed the grandmother of the girl who started the fight and then interviewed a woman who seemed unconcerned. This is not newsworthy because this is not unusual in schools, and it was dealt with properly.
     Even after this spectacle, there was not an outpouring of concern from Bonny Eagle parents: the only concern seemed to be from the two guardians involved in this fight.
        My suggestion is that next time you look for something newsworthy. Nothing about this was uncommon to find in schools, so why would I want to watch two freshman engaging in a fight on the five o’clock news? This was trivial and nothing was outstanding about it. This story doesn’t make me want to turn on your news station every evening to see high schoolers in a brawl. There is enough of that on social media. This story was just as petty for showing this graphic video than the person recording the video at the scene who didn’t feel the need to break it up.
        Doing a story on this, saying that bullying is a problem within our building due to this one fight, is like saying that each student in our school is failing just because one student is. Each student has been punished for her actions, and the administration has dealt with it. They are doing their jobs; they are not prison guards. They are helping us receive an education; they are not referees for fights in the hallway.
      After looking at the video, I would say that the girl who broke up the fight should be recognized. She acknowledged that administration was not at the scene, and did the right thing by splitting the two apart. This girl's action shows a lot more about our student body than those who engaged in the fighting. So I guess my question here is, why is there no story being done on the girl who had the maturity to break up this fight?
        Speaking of the student body, I recently spoke with a student who had moved here from another country. One of the things I recalled from our conversation was how he wouldn’t have wanted to attend any other school. He described how he loved the atmosphere and pride here at Bonny Eagle, and I’m sure if you asked any other student they would reply in a similar fashion. It is disappointing to see you, as a local news station, using only part of a story to make a local school look bad.
       Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Caitlyn Sharples
A Proud Bonny Eagle student

It's not like someone died

Dear editor,
     While most now think Bonny Eagle is a war zone because of you, quite frankly it’s not. This was just a fight, and fights happen everywhere. The only thing that makes this one special is the fact that it got on the news. A majority of the kids and parents here don’t care that it happened, we don’t feel any less safe, we are not mortified by the fact that it happened, and the people who do care are angry at you.
     Some of the students here at BEHS are making a video about how people feel about the school and about the fight and i guarantee you no one will seriously say they are scared or even moved at all by the fight. Why did it happen? Who cares? It already happened and we can't change that. Pretty much everyone has already moved on. It’s not like someone died.
Sincerely,
Max Gibson
BEHS senior

This incident is now behind us

Dear Editor of WCSH6,
     This past week, Bonny Eagle High School encountered a fight between two freshman girls who took a situation way too far.  The act of bad behavior does not represent this school in a positive way. It has been said that there was no supervision of these students by school officials.  Teachers are placed throughout the school in the morning before classes start,  specifically to try and prevent things like this from happening. The hallway that the fight occurred in has a crowd of students standing in it every morning, therefore leaving it almost impossible to make your way through it and keep an eye on every student in that area.   Bonny Eagle is not a bad school; it's the bad behavior that's caused by immature students.  Unfortunately fights happen at every high school.  Bonny Eagle High School shouldn’t be targeted all because of one video that is now behind us.
Sincerely,
Hannah LaPointe
BEHS senior

Why didn't they interview more people?

Dear WCSH6
      Last night I was watching your news broadcast and I saw the video of the fight that went on at Bonny Eagle High School. I am a sophomore at BEHS, and I have heard about the fight between the two freshmen.    
      First of all, the video is misleading.  The way our hallways are set up there are always two or three teachers right around that corner. But by the time they hear or are told what is happening, they can't get to the fight in time because of all the students who are standing in the halls and are coming off the buses. You can't see the adults in the video because it was taken on a smartphone. It was a kid on a smartphone not a big camera with an areal view. Of course you can't see the teachers right around the corner
       You imply there should be more teachers around, but class starts in five minutes after that fight, and some teachers have students come in early to finish up work. You also said that "some parents said" there should be more adult staff around. But I only saw two parents interviewed and one of them didn't seem concerned at all. 
      Every school has fights; this is just one that got leaked into social media. Instead of asking the girl who was in the fight about it, why didn't you try asking people who were around when it happened?
Sincerely,
Casey Maturo
BEHS sophomore

A waste of time and not legitimate news

Good evening,
    My name is James Huff Jr., a senior residing here at Bonny Eagle High School, and I write to you today in response to a recent article you have written about my school. I currently am taking a journalism class during my second block, and you can bet the first thing we talked about today in class was your article. We all generally had the same opinion, and felt as though your article wasn’t legitimate news.   
    I was wondering if you could further explain to me perhaps why you chose to write such an article against our school? Fights happen in all schools, not just ours. Just as our superintendent said, teachers are basically everywhere in the morning here, but no matter what school you go to, students will always find a blind spot to try to solve their problems with violence.
     In this video in which you see the girls fighting, you missed a few key details. The girl you interviewed, threw the first hit. In our school, the second you throw a punch is when you become the antagonist, hence resulting in your suspension. The second girl got suspended as well due to the fact she retaliated. It is my personal opinion that what you should have done is to just let the video pass by.
      Creating the article was a waste of your time, because of the fact that all adults who attended public schools should already know about fights! The only difference between now, and 20 years ago is that we can record such altercations and post them for the world to see. The funniest thing about this honestly is that I feel very safe in my school. Thanks to the staff and the administration, I feel great about coming to school every day, and knowing that I’m not going to get attacked, or harassed in such a way that could make me feel uncomfortable. If that were to happen, my school would make sure that it was dealt with swiftly and properly.
I thank you for your time, and I hope to hear back from you.
Sincerely,
Jame Huff
BEHS senior