Seniors (in high school at least) should get a break

The administrators at our high school are entirely no fun.

It seems like every time kids do something relatively harmless, like painting a rock or starting a food fight, the folks in charge go crazy.

Here’s a tidbit from the Courant’s story about Hall’s graduation:

“I don’t even want to shake our principal’s hand,” disgruntled senior Alex Foley, 18, said before the ceremony.
Foley is leaving Hall with a sour taste in her mouth because her friend, Mike Rempe, 18, was not allowed to participate in commencement ceremonies because of his involvement in a massive food fight during senior prank time last week. Rempe took his shirt off, wrapped it around his head, and ran out of the cafeteria, despite commands to stop, to divert attention so that the food fight could begin.
Though he did not throw any food, Rempe, along with the senior who threw the first pasta dish, was handed a 10-day suspension and banned from graduation.
The same week, students say, two Hall seniors were found smoking marijuana in the school parking lot during lunch and were given three-day suspensions. They were allowed to participate at graduation.
Foley argued that the difference in punishments reflects the school’s bizarre priorities.
“It’s like they’d rather have you smoke weed at lunch than start a food fight,” she said. “Does that make any sense?”
 

No, it makes no sense at all.

The appropriate penalty was to make the instigators clean up the mess they caused and perhaps do a little more community service work around the school. But banning them from graduation for a food fight? C’mon, let’s get real.

Every year we get these stories.

These folks need to lighten up.