Loading ...BEAT THE PRESS!
To paraphrase an old saying, “if ignorance is bliss, some people in Warren Township must be the happiest on the planet.” I write that in response to the many of the comments made at Tuesday night’s PTA meeting over a reported sex scandal at Raymond Park Middle School.
As has been already reported, the District found out two students engaged in sexual activity in an Industrial Arts class and later expelled them. The incident occurred in December 2006 but the school didn’t find out about it until January. Once it made the news the story took on a life of its own and made national headlines. I did a Google search shortly after the story broke and found more than a hundred entries. One even reached Australia.
The administration, as well as many parents, took the tone that this negative publicity was the fault of the media. Us in the media (yours truly and Sandra Chapman at WTHR-TV to be specific) were the ones truly to blame. The way some people at the meeting spoke, had it not been for the media, none of this would have ever have happened. I respectfully disagree.
The media did not force the children to engage in sex. The media did not contradict itself by offering alternate stories of how the two kids were caught. In one version, the teacher discovered the students. In a later version, the a student who acted as a lookout told a teacher while serving detention. The media did not say “no comment.” In fact we went through painstaking efforts to make sure the children’s identities were protected. It was the school district dropped the ball on this one, plain and simple. As soon as they found out about this, they should have gotten together and mapped out a strategy and then went forward and told as much as they could have, keeping full consideration of the students’ privacy concerns. I understand these are not easy matters to discuss. No school district wants to be known as the one where students have sex behind a computer desk. But consider the alternative.
Beating up on the press solves nothing. Instead of taking ownership and blaming the press the school district and it supporters are not teaching children to take responsibility. They are teaching them to pass buck. You would think people who are supposed to be in education would be smarter than this.
If the Warren Township School District learned anything from this, I would hope they learned two things. First, get in front of issues instead of letting the issues get in front of you. Second, you should never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel or has a broadcast tower because they will always get the last word.
March 14th, 2007 at 7:19 am
Did you expect anything different from a school district, particularly this one? IPS East.
March 14th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back. Sandra Chapman’s original sensationalized reporting — which you globbed onto as your own story — was that “for months” the “well-kept secret” in Warren Central was two students having sex while at least 10 students watched.
We now know that the incident happened just before Christmas break, only two students (”the lookouts”) watched and school officials took appropriate disciplinary action just after Christmas break when they learned of the incident.
Ah, but that is not the stuff for which TV sweeps months and talk radio are made.
It was interesting this morning that XNT news aired only the sound bites of parents unhappy with administrators and none of the sound bites of parents upset with the media.
Fair and balanced reporting? Hardly.
Oh, and the threat of challenging anyone who buys ink by the barrel or has broadcast towers..
what utter arrogance. But typical.
What this city needs, but The Star surrendered long ago, is a media critic (Mark Allan, where are you?) to call into question the one-sided reporting and the sensationalism that is so prevalent across the media spectrum, even including — or especially so — low-rated radio talk shows hosted by carpetbaggers so sadly lacking in local knowledge and perspective but purporting to speak for us all.
March 14th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Ah Bill, your jealousy is showing once again. Perhaps you should just chill out and just appreciate that media in this town is doing its job.
March 14th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Damm, Bill doesn’t sound happy.
If Abdul stole the story he did a much better job in its reporting. Besides how can a person steal news?
Warren Township Schools has for years deigned problems with students. No gangs, No drugs, No weapons and apparently No sex at school, all lies. Gangs, weapons, drugs and student sex is alive in the Warren School system and has been for years. When unpleasant actives are brought to the attention of Warren Schools, they retreat and insist that the problems aren’t in their school system but outside and off campus. They are in denial. Warren Township Schools needed a wake up call maybe this was it.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Rishawn:
Spoken like another carpetbagger. You came from someplace else, pretend to know all about Indy, and you will soon be gone … five years max. The Gannetteers will see to it.
At least your nemesis, Amos, is from here, and will be here long after you’ve taken off for another market.
Just sayin’ the media is not infallible and will sacrifice journalistic principles in pursuit of ratings and readership. I believe the Warren case is an example of this. That’s my opinion, just as you are entitled to yours.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:48 am
First off, the way WTHR-TV presented the story, at least online, was pretty ridiculous. It was all accusation and veiled outrage, with little information and objectivity. Perhaps the tv stories were different, so I won’t berate them. They kept making is sound like something absolutely horrible happened, then finally I figured out what occured and was like “Yeah, that’s bad but it sounds like it was dealt with a while ago. This report is unfair.”
Secondly, the fact is, Abdul, that the administration (that overall, I don’t support) didn’t absolutely change it’s story. Just because a student told the teacher what was going on doesn’t preclude that teacher from then “discovering” it. That’s faulty logic.
Second, to RiShawn’s post about “gangs, weapons, drugs and student sex” is incorrect, I think. I was taught in Warren Township for 13 years, and not once did I see anything gang related IN SCHOOL. (Of course, off of school grounds is another matter). Same goes with weapons and sex. I did know students who came to school drugged, but never actually doing them during school. My experience, I hope, sheds light on the issue. There might in fact be those problems, but I think you are overblowing it.
I was so interested in this story because it was my old high school.. then I found out the story was a big puff of air. The parents at the PTA meeting, it sounds like, understand the issue.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Er, sorry, that wasn’t RiShawn but Long time Warren Dad I was responding to. Sorry again. :-)
March 14th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Wow, Bill a new low. Can you really racially profile by name alone now. Is your crystal ball that good that you already know the kind of person Rishawn and the kind of life he is going to have? Sad Sad, what would your friends at the View think?
Crow
March 14th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I have a bag, but there’s no carpet in it.
March 14th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Kudo’s to the media for breaking this story. If it weren’t for them, this issue would still be a well kept secret.
And shame on Warren school officials for keeping silent - even when the story was breaking. They could have avoided a lot of erroneous input and rumours from outside sources if they’d stepped up on this issue in the first place.
As a person on the receiving end of media information, I can say one thing - I’d rather honest media get a story out to the public with errors rather than having no story at all. Errors can be corrected. Ignorance cannot be. That’s the position that Warren Township schools chose for it’s residents.
So in spite of the errors made along the way, I thank the media for choosing to enlighten us on this matter rather than leave us completely in the dark.
Some of the responses here (someone from Warren schools maybe?) remind me that shooting the messenger is still fashionable in some circles. How principled is that?
March 14th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Ah Bill, I would take offense to your use of the term carpetbagger until I remembered that term originates from the Reconstruction period, when Northerners helping to move the South away from its agrarian, slavery-bound roots — and from a well-earned economic recession — carried their luggage in bags made of carpet.
At that point, I realized that folks such as Abdul and I are helping those in Indiana looking towards progress and change do so against those such as yourself who embrace the status quo. Such as you Bill. And then, I smiled, realizing that you probably don’t know about all this as you were tossing out what you considered to be an insult.
Thanks for the compliment. Have a nice day.
March 14th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
The cage-rattlers don’t like it when someone rattles back.
March 14th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
The story needed told. Warren Schools flubbed it by trying to hide, but most school districts do the same thing. It’s the mentality of superintendents. And most school boards are in the back pocket of their superintendents. Deny, deny, deny, obfuscate, deny again.
Why isn’t anyone equally disturbed by Warren’s continuing low gradudaiton rate?
But the insane back-slapping by RiShawn is hallow, at best.
RiShawn, you do a decent job, but not great. Your selective indignation is hilarious.
Bill’s rant is equally silly. There are few reporters in this town worthy of high praise. RiShawn, you’re on the path, but not there yet.
Humility, RiShawn. It’s a lost art.
March 14th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
sorry *commentary fat thumbs on the keyboard
March 14th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Bill,
Maybe I got your wrong….maybe your not the insane liberal I think you are. Apparently your the crazed red neck and friend of Bubba’s.
Waiting for Bill’s next racist slur to be “them people”.
Crow
March 14th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Actually Sad Commentary, I have no grand illusions about who I am or what I do. It’s a priviledge to do what I do and that’s appreciated in this corner.
At the same time, I’m also not going to stand for anyone complaining that some of us in this town contribute nothing, as if Indianapolis was somehow sterling before we got here. Nor am I going to sit quitely and humbly before those doing nothing. Nor do I sit by and let those who I think are doig a service be given the business by those who, in all honesty, have little to offer outside of a potshot.
Sorry folks, but humility in the face of an idiotic statement is just more idiocy. On that score, I’ll never be humble.
March 15th, 2007 at 9:48 am
One man’s idiocy is another’s brainstorm, RiShawn.
Humility is a virtue.
Learn it. Hell fake it. Your writing style is too good, and you rail against many of the same things I do. Your voice is needed. And it’s rare in this media market.
But on this one, you just might be wrong. Or partially wrong. And you’ve painted yourself into a righteous indignation corner, with no escape route.
Think about it. How much would it hurt? Is your ego that large?
March 15th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Wow, Bill cant even use his name anymore! You know have to use Your Wrong Rishawn.. Bill you are a bigot and have lost what little credibility you had. Your mentality of I’ve lived here longer than you and therefore my opinion is better than yours shows your true ignorance. Please dust off you white sheets and go back to the past with your Klan buddies.
March 15th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Oh and Bill/Your Wrong….
The next time you have and idea or opinion..why dont you have a nice steaming hot cup of STFU.
Have a nice day
Crow
March 15th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Crow:
Clarification: “You’re Wrong” and I are not one and the same.
Question: Could you enlighten me as to what “STFU” represents?
Statement: Given your spelling and punctuation skills (or decided lack thereof) you perhaps ought to go back to school. Could I suggest Warren Central?
Peace
Bill
March 15th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Crow, of RiShawn’s sister, or whomever:
the purpose of the earlier post was simply to ask RiShawn to eat a piece of humble pie. And to consider that he might be wrong. No more, no less. He’s right way more than he’s wrong, but the self-aggrandizing pat on the back he gave the press corps was over the top and ridiculous.
Lighten up Crow. You’re gonna bust a vessel or something. Warren’s the kind of district that does something stupid like this about once a year. But they’ve got a great football team!
Pace yourself. Go pick on Perry. Another stellar Mensa school board. They’re arrogant and self-destructing daily.
March 16th, 2007 at 6:59 am
Bill,
Fact is, I can always use spell check. You are still a red neck hipocrit and there is no cure for that.
Crow