Saratoga News

Editorial

What did students learn?

When a group of exuberant Saratoga High School seniors streaked across their campus on April 21, they never dreamed that their mad dash would lead them on a journey through school board meetings and a judge's chambers or that it would lead to a confrontation between faculty members and the school board president.

We suspect what the young people ultimately learned is that adults are pretty good at making a mess of things.

Students will remember an angry confrontation that saw parents yelling and making obscene gestures to school board members. And parents telling school board members they didn't like their proposed alternative punishment any more than they liked the original punishment.

They'll remember a lawsuit about school discipline which the judge said should have been handled outside the legal system.

And they'll remember the streakers sitting in the front row in their caps and gowns, blowing bubbles at graduation.

They'll remember that the streakers weren't allowed to walk across the stage to pick up their diplomas--a small price to pay considering that earlier in the day, they had participated in a special graduation ceremony dignified by the presence of the school board president handing them their diplomas.

They'll remember hearing that faculty members dashed off an impassioned letter to the school board charging that President Ron Adolphson's participation in the alternate graduation undermined the school's administration.

They'll no doubt recall, too, that Adolphson defended himself in his own impassioned missive, noting that he had obtained permission to participate from Superintendent Tod Likins and SHS Principal Kevin Skelly and that the faculty letter contained factual errors.

They may remember the faculty, upon getting more facts, dashing off a mea culpa letter apologizing for their first letter.

And they may remember scratching their heads at hearing that the school board and faculty finally agreed that Adolphson did not undermine the school's administration because in handing out the diplomas, he had acted as an individual, not as the school board president.

We suspect that when they think about it, they'll find this the ultimate absurdity in this long, long tale.

That's because people in positions of leadership can't simply take off one hat and put on another. Because the hats are figurative, not literal, no one can see that the leader is wearing a different hat.

What the faculty should have said was that Adolphson's participation in the alternate graduation gave the appearance of undermining the administration. For when it comes to people in positions of leadership, appearance is everything.

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