Amid heavy security from area police agencies, a number of high school students staged a brief demonstration at the LaCenterra shopping center Friday afternoon to protest what they perceived as an insulting article in a recent edition in the Cinco Ranch student newspaper, “County Line.”

 

The protest primarily consisted of students from other Katy ISD high schools driving around the shopping center displaying signs in support of their respective high schools. Signs, stickers and flags supporting Katy, Taylor and Seven Lakes high schools were seen.

 

A number of vehicle occupants also shouted anti-Cinco Ranch statements and made rude gestures.

 

Several vehicles bearing signs supporting Cinco Ranch High were also observed.

 

Teachers and staff from a number of Katy ISD schools were stationed around the shopping center to help insure the protest remained peaceful. A number of Cinco Ranch students gathered in small groups throughout LaCenterra, a well-known student hang-out, some wearing school colors and T-shirts.

 

LaCenterra is located across the street from Cinco Ranch High School.

 

Patrol cars from the Katy ISD Police Department, Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office and Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office were also seen stationed in, and patrolling around, LaCenterra, the nearby SuperTarget shopping center and Cinco Ranch High School.

 

The demonstration was largely peaceful; however, at least one scuffle broke out between the occupants of a pickup truck displaying a Taylor High School flag and a group of Cinco Ranch students. The altercation was limited to shoving and name-calling, and was broken up by other students before police were called.

 

“Take your fat (rear end) back to Taylor,” one student shouted as the truck drove off.

 

No injuries of property damage were reported as a result of the demonstration.

 

In the article that stirred the protest, two student reporters, Madison Edwards and Sydney Branch, questioned 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.

 

The reporters said the article was meant to be a satire of certain “territorial” attitudes held by some Cinco Ranch students, and was not meant to demean other Katy ISD high schools.

 

Administrators, high school principals, students and parent support group leaders from across the school district gathered Friday morning for a specially-called Superintendent’s Student Roundtable meeting at the Katy ISD Educational Support Complex to discuss the controversy.

 

The meeting, called by Superintendent Alton Frailey, was intended to calm tensions that had risen in the wake of the article, entitled “Cinco Territories: Other Schools Should Find Own Hot Spots.” The story appeared in the Feb. 12 edition of “County Line.” 

 

Some students from other Katy ISD schools 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.

 

The “escalation of emotions” led to the calling of the meeting, Frailey said.

 

“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 had been using messages on the Facebook social networking site to instigate the demonstration.

 

Fallout from the article sparked an apology from the newspaper, 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 stressed 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.”