Does Skowhegan Have a Gang Problem in Its High School?

High-school officials in Skowhegan were right to discipline students who held a sit-in at school last week to protest other students they said were threatening them.

However, there are signs that the officials may have not given sufficient consideration to the protesters’ claims of harassment.

More than 30 students were suspended from classes for three days for skipping school for a demonstration Friday morning. They claimed that a group of other students who favor Gothic dress and call themselves the "Carnival Killers" had repeatedly issued threats against students who were not members.

Skowhegan High School officials called the allegations "rumors." They said the suspensions were necessary because the students were insubordinate in not returning to classes when ordered to do so.

Though police reported no complaints, students who participated in the protest said that members of the Carnival Killers congregated in sections of school corridors to insult and threaten other students and even throw things at them.

Whether such claims are "rumors" would seem easy to determine with a little bit of oversight by teachers and administrators, who are paid to know what is going on in their schools.

It is worth noting that the reported leader of the Carnival Killers was quoted as denying that "my boys and girls" committed any harassment. However, having a student refer to other students as "my boys and girls" sounds like a clear sign that some form of gang activity is going on.

Having a group in your school that calls itself "Killers" might well be another such sign. Americans have seen that officials at other schools who ignored or downplayed similar signs later came to regret their inattention.

(c) 2007 Portland Press Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.