A poor Choice?

Two articles in the Daily News with a follow up on December 17 that "police sent a case against one BHS student to the SM County District Attorney's Office. The student is suspected of grabbing another smaller student from behind, beating him unconscious and then kicking him."

Homosexual name calling and unnecessary roughness by some Burlingame High School football players against smaller male students and the administration's alleged reticence to fully address the issue has at least one family member crying foul and has grabbed the attention of an anti-hate organization. Some members of the high school football team are allegedly intimidating and assaulting their slighter peers on campus, in part calling them homosexual names and at times physically assaulting them and school officials aren't addressing the problem, said Pat Gray, Burlingame resident and family member to one of the victims. I'm upset that the school refused to face the fact that there is an atmosphere of intimidation and violence and they should change that,? said Gray. On the morning of Nov. 29 Gray's grandson, who the Daily News will not name because he is a juvenile, was beaten unconscious and then kicked by a member of the Burlingame High School football team. Earlier that month, the same player allegedly pegged another student in the head with a soda bottle as he was leaving campus. The student was not physically injured because he was wearing a bicycle helmet at the time, said Gray. Additionally, two other football players allegedly assaulted another student of slight build after they tried to cart his friend away during lunchtime as part of a scavenger hunt. The scuffle ended with one athlete thrusting a bottle into the student's groin and making repeated homosexual taunts, said Gray. I think that this fag' name calling is a common chant around campus,? said Gray, who has now turned to the media in hopes of finding out if there are other students who have been victimized with hopes of forming a group to persuade school officials to fully address the issue in public. The school should recognize this is happening.?

San Mateo Union High School District officials avoided confirming the alleged assaults took place and expressed full confidence in the district's staff to deal with issues of harassment in-house. I have absolutely no doubt that the situations were dealt with,? said district Associate Superintendent Ethel Konopka. We don't look the other way.? Konopka said she may have heard of a couple of instances regarding disciplinary actions taken against football players but said she did not recall which high school they attended and would not comment on details for reasons of maintaining student confidentiality. What I can tell you is that hazing is not something that we allow on campuses,? said Konopka. In the meantime kids are kids and sometimes kids make poor choices.? Burlingame High School Principal Matt Biggar did not return two Daily News calls requesting comment.

- Written by Fiona

Comments

[sue]

It is the responsibility of the administration and the staff to set the tone for what is allowable and acceptable in terms of behavior, both verbal and physical, and to have punitive measures in place for those who don't abide by the rules. A school-wide program which encourages and "rewards" appropriate social interactions and in an attepmt to maintain a positive social climate could easily be established. The SMUHSD is oh so good at "preaching" but not at "practicing what they preach." Bullying can not be accepted at any level, and perhaps some of the staff need to do a little self-reflection and examine the interactions they have with students on a daily basis. Are they bullying?

"Kids being kids" has nothing to do with hate crimes. I hope these kids are charged for the assault and battery and I hope there is a hate crime enhancement.

The adminisration should be held accountable for allowing any level of hate in the school house doors. The adminsitration should immediately be involved in establishing school groups that embrace their entire community. Any thing less then addressing this head on is a disservice to our students and our community.

If the administration fails to take active steps to cultivate a positive environment for everyone to learn then the administration doesn't deserve the privilege of educating our future...

[KRN]

The BHS Administration, Burlingame Police, and BHS site officials have dealt with this specific issue. Many BHS officials were upset that this story didn't accurately reflect the true course of events The BHS football team is not assaulting students. The team itself should not be blamed for the actions of an individual. The student involved was charged with a crime, as would any student who broke the law. There are more openly gay students on the BHS campus now than in years past. This act alone should stand as a statement to the safe environment at BHS. Is it completely safe for openly gay students? I know of many adults who don't want openly gay students on the campus.

The BHS Administration, faculty and staff have all participated in training sessions to deal with these types of situations. There is very active participation on the campus to reduce any hate speech or acts by one student upon another. Will BHS or any other school eradicate hate in actions or in speech? This is not likely to happen. In today's society, the work "Gay" is used by students to describe a variety of things. To the students, it doesn't always mean homosexual, although it is usually used as a put down. Is the use of the word gay hate speech? It depends on how the word is used and its intent.

I would direct your attention away from the students and onto the adult community. When adults stop using hate speech towards others, children will stop. Hate speech is learned ability, it is not ascribed at birth.

[Gay Sexual Aggression]

These gay kids are the sexual aggressors. They are constantly making sexual advances at all non-gay students in Burlingame High School.

For some reason they believe being gay is a free pass to obnoxiously flirt with every boy they come in contact with.

Don't even try to play these gay students as the victims.They are lucky they are not arrested for the sexual aggression.

[Joanne]

Well, whatever the sexual overtones of this are, the one thing that should be clear is that fighting should not be tolerated because "boys are boys." This behavior would not be tolerated in adult men, so why should we tolerated it in adolescents? If a grown man grabbed another man at work and beat him unconscious (regardless of any verbal provocation) he would be fired and he would be charged with assault and battery. End of story.

[jean]

My feeling about openly gay students on campus is this: It doesn't matter if the observed sexual behaviour is gay, bi, straight or otherwise, openly sexual behaviour on campus is inappropriate. Just like it is at the office.

[KRN]

Let me clarify my comment from above.

"There are more openly gay students on the BHS campus now than in years past. "

There are more students on campus who have come out to their peers and the faculty. It is openly known that these students are gay.

I never stated that gay students were engaging in any sort of open sexual behavior.

[Joanne]

KRN,it was the person who signed off as "Gay Sexual Aggression" that said "gay kids are the sexual aggressors." Sexual harassment applies to all sexual orientations. Jean (above) is right. Anyone who is creating an unwelcome, offensive atmosphere for any student should be stopped. End of Second Story.

[KRN]

There is no unwelcome behavior or offensive atmosphere being created by gay students! There were no reports of this action. It is unfair to imply that gay students were making advances upon other students. It is also quite unfair to assume that the only way that anyone would know that a student is gay is by their outward behavior. By the way... to Gay Sexual Agression above, gay students are also female.

My kids tell me that there are several openly gay students at BHS, and that mostly people leave them alone and don't think twice about their orientation. Neither of my kids has heard about anything happening at the school regarding this or any other incident, so whatever happened never made the rounds into the general student population. I have, however, heard about other incidents where this or that student is picked or bullyed on, (not with regard to being gay). Unfortunately high school has always been that way. Generally, I've found the student population at BHS to be well-mannered and respectful of one another.