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Newsbreak for Walpole
The Week – Nov. 3
The Year – 2003
Public vs. Private Rights
Walpole school officials confirmed recently that a student at the
Johnson Middle School has been suspended indefinitely.
What happened?
It seems that the student had a knife in his school locker and the
school is investigating the situation.
Why are many parents upset?
1. The concern for many is the lack of information and the fact that the
incident was not disclosed publicly.
2. Some parents who heard about it via the rumor mill have discussed the
incident informally.
3. Thus, the administration is now in a position of defending its action
in keeping the incident out of the public eye.
Now, the public is scrutinizing the incident with more fervor than it
might have earlier. Is security ok at the school?
What would have prompted a student to bring a knife to school in this
day and age?
Should the privacy rights of the student outweigh the right of the
public to be aware of the incident?
This is the crucial question. Public officials need always to analyze
the benefits of silence, or the risk of allowing silence to magnify the
issue.
Budgets and More …
As the calendar year draws to a close, the work on budgets for the next
fiscal year will be starting.
Early indications seem optimistic about the economy, but the indications
are that state funding will be less than hoped for again this year.
Thus, local budgets will be strained and constrained once more. |
