Wednesday, 11/11/2009
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According to all accounts, it started just as every food fight begins, someone tosses a cookie, another retaliates, someone else yells “food fight,” and chaos ensues. But far from juvenile fun, the recent food fight at Perspectives Charter School in Calumet, IL near Chicago resulted in the arrests of 25 students ages 11-15.
At first glance, this might seem like a joke – a creative ending to an elaborate prank, but it is not. The New York Times, who published an article about the incident yesterday wrote: “Diana Shulla-Cose, president and co-founder of Perspectives Charter Schools, said that an on-campus police officer had called for backup as the food fight escalated and that the resulting heavy police presence had led in turn to the large number of arrests.”
These students are now facing criminal charges for a misdemeanor reckless conduct. Should the charges not be thrown out, they will have a confidential criminal record until they turn 17 under Illinois state law.
Was this the right course of action? How should the school have dealt with the situation? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment below:
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1 Comments on Should Middle School Food Fights be a Punishable Offense?
I work for a school system in the southeast. We have 55,000 students and 6000 staff members. I have a background in law enforcement for the last 35 years. To criminalize this type of behavor is just wrong. To saddle a 12 or 13 year old child with a criminal record for a minor offense is not reasonable. The punishment just does not fit the “crime”. Depending on the perspective any school policy violation can be construed as a crime. The question should be is it reasonable to criminalize this type of behavior or allow schools to use existing policy to control behavior and teach positive change.?