Administrators, high school principals, students and parent support group leaders from across Katy ISD gathered Friday morning for a specially-called Superintendent’s Student Roundtable meeting to discuss the controversy surrounding a recent article in the Cinco Ranch High student newspaper.
The meeting, called by Superintendent Alton Frailey, was intended to calm tensions that had risen in the wake of an article called “Cinco Territories: Other Schools Should Find Own Hot Spots” appearing in the Feb. 12 edition of “County Line.”
In the article, two student reporters, Madison Edwards and Sydney Branch, question why students from other Katy ISD high schools frequent such Cinco Ranch student hang-outs such as Mission Burrito, Starbucks, a SuperTarget store and others.
CONTROVERSIAL ARTICLE - This is the article that appeared in the Cinco Ranch High student newspaper “County Line” that sparked the ongoing controversy.
The article rhetorically asks “Don’t they have their own places to go?” It also contained student quotes suggesting that Cinco Ranch hot-spots such as LaCenterra and popular fast food establishments “belong” to Cinco students.
Some students from other Katy ISD schools such as Katy High, Taylor High and Seven Lakes High said they found the article humiliating and offensive. Some parents also voiced a strong objection to the tone of the article.
At least one e-mail message was considered by school officials to contain a veiled death threat against one of the article’s authors, and rumors have spread across several campuses about a “demonstration” by non-Cinco students at LaCenterra shopping center this weekend.
LaCenterra is located across the street from Cinco Ranch High School.
The “escalation of emotions” led to the calling of the meeting, Frailey said.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION – Katy ISD Superintendent Alton Frailey addresses a specially-called meeting of the Superintendent’s Student Roundtable to talk about a controversial article appearing in the Cinco Ranch High School newspaper.
“An opinion piece in the Feb. 12, 2009, edition of the Cinco Ranch newspaper has received wide circulation and reaction. I’m not here to defend or assess any guilt upon the authors; I’m not here to defend or assess guilt upon those who have reacted one way or the other,” Frailey said. “There has been an escalation of emotions throughout our community, including what has been perceived as a death threat made against one of the authors. We’ve also, unfortunately, received some very mean-spirited and non-productive communications.”
Frailey said some people have been using messages on the Facebook social networking site to instigate a demonstration against Cinco Ranch High School this weekend at targeted local businesses.
One of those locations was LaCenterra.
Frailey said he had been in contact with LaCenterra management about the situation. Local law enforcement, including Katy ISD Police, has also been notified.
“Maybe folks are just venting and this will blow over if we leave it alone. Maybe this will mushroom and become even more problematic if we don’t address it head on,” Frailey said. “I think the threat potential, as well as the positive opportunity potential, is too risky to not have this matter addressed with an agreed-upon intent.”
Frailey went on to praise the community, but said some people tend to “sensationalize any warts that may surface or be created from time to time.”
“No place is perfect because people aren’t perfect. Yet, it takes people to make a place sensational,” he said. “And because of that, we have to be very mindful of what role we play in making a place sensational or what role we play in giving folks something to sensationalize. We must be mindful of, and value, this individually and collectively.”
Students, teachers and parents spent more than an hour exchanging reactions to the article, as well as discussing strategies to bring district schools together.
Frailey pointed out that the authors wrote the article as a satire of the type of talk they heard in the school hallways. He said it was obvious to him the article was satirical, but others apparently did not take it the same way.
“It was quite obvious to me, not knowing the students involved, that it was satire,” Frailey said.
A number of the students and parents who spoke agreed that any insult to other Katy ISD schools was not intentional, but that the writers should have paid closer attention to how the story might be interpreted by those outside of Cinco Ranch High.
Others defended the students’ right to express themselves.
“Some of these kids have opinions that need to be heard,” one parent said. “We should not squelch those opinions, even if they make us uncomfortable.”
One Mayde Creek student said the story irritated her at first, but it was not enough to cause a permanent rift between the schools.
“I think we all felt a little offended by it, but to get angry about this, or to get death threats, we shouldn’t be tearing each other apart,” the student said.
Two Katy ISD trustees attended the meeting. Chris Crockett and Robert Shaw both said everyone should work to avoid letting the controversy escalate.
“This particular issue got blown out of proportion. Hopefully, this is going to blow over; hopefully, this is just a lot of hot air,” Shaw said.
Frailey agreed.
“This isn’t the biggest thing we’ve ever faced, it just seemed to touch a nerve,” Frailey said.
Fallout from the article also sparked an apology from the newspaper, posted on the school’s website.
APOLOGY – This letter of apology for the controversial Cinco Ranch High student newspaper article was posted on the school’s website.
The letter, posted on Principal Bonnie L. Brasic’s stationary and attributed to the staff of “County Line” and advisor Ed Larsen, conceded the article had caused “a great deal of pain and anguish” in the Katy community.
“The Feb. 12 issue of the Cinco Ranch High School ‘County Line’ ran an opinion column in the Voice section entitled, “Cinco Territories,” that has caused a great deal of pain and anguish in the Katy community. The staff of the ‘County Line’ wishes to offer a sincere apology to all students, parents and district employees who found statements made in the article to be offensive,” the letter said. “It was not the intent of the column to maliciously attack any individuals, schools, or families within the Katy community.”
The letter also emphasized the article was meant to be satirical in nature, poking fun at some Cinco Ranch attitudes rather than demeaning other schools.
“The intent of the article was to create a satirical look at and to mock the very attitudes (including those of Cinco Students) that create division and conflict in our community. Attitudes of territorialism are prevalent; however, by addressing the issue satirically, the authors felt it possible to invoke change in the attitudes of Cinco students,” the letter explained. “In the process of trying to influence our primary readership at CRHS, we inadvertently offended readers in our secondary audience, and for that we offer our sincere apology. The staff also firmly believes in the value of a unified Katy community and hoped this would promote those sentiments within the walls of CRHS.”
