I have always used these weekly updates as a forum to celebrate the strength of our community and the successes of our students. After all there is so much to celebrate. Our senior visual artists opened an outstanding exhibition at the Bert Green Fine Arts Gallery downtown, our second year theatre students brought Shakespeare to life at their Second Year Project, our dancers are fresh from their Spring Concert, the Landscape of the Body, our orchestra, one of the finest student orchestras performs tomorrow night, and our Film and Musical Theatre departments are gearing up for Moondance and Cats respectively.
I should also mention the colleges, universities, and conservatories to which the Class of 2010 have been accepted. The academic prowess of this class is a testament to quality of our academic program and the strength of our families. I could share the successes of the Bear Feet Theatre Company and their entrepreneurial spirit. This shining example of the independence of our artist-scholars is our true goal as a learning institution and a measure of our success. All of this follows a celebration twenty-five years in the making.
With so much to celebrate, I am so perplexed by an incident that took place on our campus one week ago. Many of you may have heard about a faulty latch that failed to secure the door to one of the vending machines outside of King Hall. Some of our students discovered this open door between classes and proceeded to raid the contents. A large crowd of our students quickly gathered, close to sixty or seventy, by one count. When assistant-principal Lisa Sherman-Colt arrived quickly to the scene our students fled racked by panic and fear. By this time, all of the contents of the vending machine--chips, sodas and cash--had been stolen. The machine itself was also physically damaged by the severity of the incident. To describe this as an unfortunate day might be a sad understatement.
To think that the severity of these crimes--vandalism and theft--could be ever associated with LACHSA should be truly disturbing to all of us in this community. I don't mean to sound naive as we are all well aware that isolated incidents happen from time to time with individual students.
Of course, we have and will follow up with students who were involved and hold them accountable for their actions. We have already addressed the larger moral, ethical, and legal implications with our student body. Many of our students expressed concern, disgust, and some genuine regret for not voicing their opposition more vociferously.
Some in our community may see this incident as an indictment of an unscrupulous student body, ungrateful for their privileges and undeserving of mercy. While this day is certainly not one we can celebrate, far from it, I do hope this is a day from which we can all learn.
I know the passion and pride our students hold. We will never accept the actions of this day or dismiss them as "kids being kids". Although we will hold those responsible accountable, I wish to challenge all of us to aspire to a higher sense of self and possibility. I began this message with a snapshot of who we are as a community. This is our true self and one day, as unfortunate and unbelievable as it is, does not change that. We all have a role to play as we collectively demand the kind of school culture to which we can look to with pride. I urge you to speak with your children about what kinds of school they wish to create, what kind of person they are and hope to become, and what kind of community they wish to build.
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