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ECM Edit: Eden Prairie High School admin made tough but proper choice |
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Not many of us completed our high school years without doing something we later wished we hadn’t done. And the fact that we knew there were consequences for some of those ill-advised deeds often wasn’t enough to keep us from doing what we did.
Students at Eden Prairie High School who were suspended in January by the administration after Internet photos showed them in situations with alcohol knew there were consequences but, like many a teenager, chose to take a chance anyway. Most of them probably wish today they hadn’t taken that chance.
Some think it was a tough call for Eden Prairie administrators but they did what they had to do. To do less would have been wrong.
A story headlined “Are Facebook photos grounds for discipline?” in the Jan. 10 Star Tribune revealed that 13 students had been suspended because of Facebook photos that were forwarded to administrators at Eden Prairie High School. Those who were suspended were among 42 interviewed by administrators.
There were cries of foul play from some parents and students, a few students walking out of school and some parents threatening legal action. One student, an athlete, was quoted as saying that “a lot of kids’ lives are going to be ruined as far as scholarships and sports are concerned.”
The fact is that students who participate in Minnesota State High School League activities are required to sign, along with their parents, a form agreeing not to use alcohol and drugs while in those activities. That negates the argument by some that the punishment was too harsh and that some scholarships might be lost.
Letters written by readers of the Star Tribune came down on both sides of the question.
One Eden Prairie student thought the incident was an invasion of privacy but noted that anyone with a Facebook page was taking a chance of such a thing happening. Another student’s letter totally missed the point when it noted that blood alcohol levels had not been determined.
Another reader chided parents who were considering legal action, advising them to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. Still another said parents “are teaching their kids that you don’t have to take responsibility for the choices you do make.”
A group of at least 70 students at the school joined a Facebook group that backed the administration. One entry on the page said it was the students’ choice to “be in a situation where you risk your participation in school athletics/programs.”
What it boils down to is that the students made a poor choice, one that others have made before them and others will make after them, and that the technologically-advanced age we all live in helped blow the whistle.
Hats off to Eden Prairie administrators for making the choice they did, however unpopular. It serves as a real-life lesson in taking responsibility.
This editorial is a product of the ECM Editorial Board. The Post Review is a part of ECM Publishers Inc.
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