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School’s only option was to cancel event |
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Wednesday, 02 April 2008 |
Lynn Steenblock
Steve Massey
Guest Columnists
In recent days, Forest Lake High School has been labeled “unpatriotic” and “un-American,” district leaders have been called “cowards,” and rumors and innuendo have spread like wildfire. A school, a district, and an entire community with a proud tradition of honoring military heroes and celebrating our American freedoms have been drug through the mud locally and nationally.
Until recently, there was never a question that Forest Lake High School, and the entire Forest Lake Area School District, honors our local and national veterans. We have a proud tradition of working closely with veterans to allow them to share their experiences with our students.
As a district, we are already looking forward to finding ways to heal the hurts of the past several days, and continue to expand partnerships with the veterans and soldiers of our communities. Conversations have already begun with local veteran leaders, and such conversations will continue. We ask the community to work with us to move past the hard feelings, and bring our community back on track.
The decision to cancel the Vets for Freedom event was not made lightly.
The decision was about student safety, maintaining our educational mission, and keeping with the purpose of the event.
When first contacted about the possibility of having a Vets for Freedom event at Forest Lake High School, we were excited to have our students hear first-hand accounts from these real-life military heroes. We enthusiastically planned an event where the veterans would speak with students currently studying social studies.
To the best of our knowledge, we were the only public high school in the area, if not country, planning to bring the Vets for Freedom tour in to our school.
The scheduled event was consistent with our district’s long-standing relationship with local veterans. Each Veterans’ Day we recognize our staff members who have served in the military as role models and heroes for our students.
When the Forest Lake Legion and VFW posts hold events, our schools’ bands and choirs often perform. Local veterans share their stories and experiences with students in classroom presentations on a regular basis.
So, when approached by Vets for Freedom, we were excited to continue our tradition of celebrating veterans with a special presentation from this group of soldiers.
Once news of the event became public and media attention increased, we began to receive calls indicating that hundreds of protesters may demonstrate.
Suddenly our low-key classroom discussion grew to become something much different than we intended. Because a protest can become disruptive and dangerous, we concluded that we could not gamble with student safety during the school day.
We felt we had no option but to cancel the event.
As administrators, we have to make tough calls. This was one of them.
We never intended to dishonor our veterans and we regret the hard feelings that have resulted.
Lynn Steenblock is superintendent of schools in ISD 831, Forest Lake. Steve Massey is principal at Forest Lake High School
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