After reading the story of the Heritage students being suspended and missing their finals and graduation due to their “prank,” I’m reminded of the words a mentor passed on to me around the time my children were born: “Your main job as a parent is to prepare your child for the road,” he told me, “but unfortunately today, many parents want to prepare the road for their children.”
To see the picture of the students with their “sorry” signs and to read about their parents hiring attorneys to rescue them from a situation that they had been explicitly warned would happen to them was disheartening.
The reality is that the lesson these students will learn from potentially missing some finals and their graduation festivities is far more valuable than what would be learned by their being bailed out and allowed to avoid accountability for their actions.
Congratulations to LUHSD for standing its ground on this issue, and congratulations to the countless graduating seniors throughout the district who realize that the way to “make your mark” is through positive contributions to your community, not through acts of vandalism, animal exploitation and defacement of property.
Matt Colbert, Discovery Bay
I understand kids will make mistakes. When they do they need to accept responsibility and the penalty. It is very unfortunate that some parents put so much effort into teaching their kids otherwise.
As "teachable moments" go, this was a huge missed opportunity!