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MySouthborough.com: Today, Algonquin Principal Tom Mead announced the cancellation of class of 2015′s senior ball.

The letter began on a positive note, referring to students’ model behavior in front of a visiting congressman yesterday. It then takes a jarring turn with descriptions of “hooligan behavior” on Wednesday.

Mead also plans to cancel the “senior march” in future years to avoid similar incidents. The incident seems to have centered around the march (aka senior parade).  Here is the full email from Principal Mead:

Dear Parents and Guardians of Algonquin,

Yesterday, Representative James McGovern visited Algonquin. Responding to the invitation of a member of the Class of 2015, the Congressman toured the Serenity Garden and listened to the words of numerous students as they described the vegetable, floral, and herbal plantings of this growing natural classroom. Later, Rep. McGovern viewed the incredible art exhibits in our Gallery near the Rotunda, again accompanied by many students who described their work, and art.

I am proud of our students and staff because both stops by the Congressman were to shining examples of the remarkable work and development of so many students – seniors through freshmen.

Yesterday stands in stark contrast to the day before. That is, the behavior of many members of the Class of 2015 on Wednesday, their last day of classes. At a moment in their lives when they should be thankful, courteous, and respectful, too many were out of control, profane, and grossly disrespectful. Against clear directions prohibiting certain actions and materials, they brought shaving cream, airhorns, and other contraband into school and used this to intimidate and humiliate numerous students and staff. These actions were incredibly disrupting and unsettling for the school community.

I hasten to point out that this hooligan behavior was not embraced by all members of the Class of 2015. I especially appreciate the help and support of many members of this class, including the Steering Committee and various student-athletes who worked quickly and effectively with the custodial staff to restore our cafeteria, hallways, and bathrooms to shipshape status within a half hour. Nevertheless, the following steps will be taken in light of the chaos of Wednesday and the prospects for the future.

• The Senior Ball is cancelled this year. I am not confident that we can stage this event without a repeat of some of the behaviors seen on Wednesday, and I do not have an adequate volunteer staff to monitor and chaperone the students.
• The Senior March will no longer be a part of the year-ending school sanctioned events.
• We will work with the Class of 2016 to find alternative events and schedules that will provide our students with good opportunities to close out their four years of high school.

Before we begin, can I just say how much I LOVE the use of the word “hooligan.” It’s like the word we use to call suburban kids behaving badly because “thugs” just doesn’t seem to apply. From now on, I’m using this word for everyone. Black, white, scientologist, translatino. Anyone who acts like a savage is a hooligan from this point forward.

There are so many things that need to be said here. First of all, what the hell is a senior ball? These kids have apparently already had their prom already. So why do they need a senior ball?

At North High every vice principal has to get punched in the face as a rite of passage, and at Burncoat there’s loaded guns in every other locker. But the WPS got NOTHING on the lawlessness that is so prevalent at Algonquin Regional High School. I mean, we have shaving cream EVERYWHERE over here!!! Don’t you understand that SOMEONE has to clean up all this shaving cream? Makes you realize that the problems we have in Worcester really aren’t THAT bad after all. LOL. This is the most Southborough story I’ve ever heard.

Oh yea, and it’s almost June and seniors are still in school? What kind of communist school is this? Nothing matters any more at this point. They’ve all figured out where they’re going to college next year, so why are these administrators still trying to jam rules down their throats? How did you expect them to react?

Let’s not overlook the fact that this principal is such a dooshnozzle too. Like, the worst. First he says, “At a moment in their lives when they should be thankful, courteous, and respectful.” 

This guy is a principal? How can you work with high school kids and think that seniors who are about to graduate would ever want to be thankful, courteous, or respectful about ANYTHING? Newsflash – seniors are assholes by definition, especially when you’re forcing them to be in school in late May. They don’t wanna be there and their teachers don’t wanna deal with the fact that they’re treating their class like a joke. Why would you ever let 300+ 18 year olds have a “senior parade” and expect them to act like civilized adults?

Then he says that “too many were out of control, profane, and grossly disrespectful.” 

Hey principal ding-dong, you created this mess my friend. The kids just acted as nature designed them to act. You allowed them to have a parade where 300 teenagers, who are only thinking about the copious amounts of booze and bad decisions they are going to be shoving down their gullets in three months, aimlessly walk around the school. What did you think they were gonna do?

This would NEVER happen in Worcester because not even Lisa Dyer is dumb enough to let something like this happen. If you gave 300 South kids the freedom to parade around the halls for an hour in late May, you best believe something is getting lit on fire. I know that. Maureen Binienda knows that. That’s why this would only be a tradition in a suburban school district where the students don’t address their teachers as, “Yo Miss.” If this happened one year at North someone would get stabbed and Lisa Dyer would get a contract extension as a result of it.

Oh yea, and what was this all about ? “they brought shaving cream, airhorns, and other contraband into school and used this to intimidate and humiliate numerous students and staff.” 

Contraband? Contra-fucking-band? (name that movie) Is this guy the warden? Who uses that word and what the hell is he talking about? Did one of these kids make a shiv out of a toothbruth? And intimidate and humiliate staff and students? By doing what? Throwing some shaving cream on a freshmen’s face? Welcome to high school.

Principal Mead made my point for me with this gem: I especially appreciate the help and support of many members of this class, including the Steering Committee and various student-athletes who worked quickly and effectively with the custodial staff to restore our cafeteria, hallways, and bathrooms to shipshape status within a half hour. 

Half an hour. The whole place was “shipshape” in half an hour. This is what causes Armageddon at Algonquin Regional High School. This is what led a principal to issue a strongly worded press release to parents. Half an hour of picking up shaving cream.

And lastly, the concept of punishing a group of people for the actions of a few is one of the most Red Chinese communist things I’ve ever heard. I don’t care that it’s a stupid, meaningless dance that has no reason to exist. It’s the mere fact that ALL kids are having something taken away from them because a handful of rogue “hooligans” made a mess that took 30 minutes to clean up.

P.S. As usual, the comments on this story are the best part of it. I’m not gonna delve too much into them, but some guy named Art Fay, who sounds like every Worcester commenter on the Telegram and Gazette back when it was anonymous, lays into the community and gets some of the most Southboro replies I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if I could ever live in a community where people are this diplomatic.

Double P.S.  I know very little about Algonquin, but I know this – they were good at basketball for one year and I never wanted a team to lose more than they did. I actually rooted for St. John’s against them. And rooting for St. John’s is like going to the casino and rooting for the dealer.

But the fact of the matter is that Principal Mead didn’t even attempt to stop his students from acting like hooligans. Kids are gonna act like kids at these events, but it’s up to the principal to identify the knuckleheads and make them sit in the time out section. But after the final play of this SJ-Algonquin game a couple years back, the coach and a bunch of students literally chased the refs off the floor. Here’s the scenario – St. John’s up by 1 with 35 seconds to go and the ball. They don’t have enough time to run out the clock, so they needed to score to put it away. Then this happened:

That’s still one of the greatest finished I’ve ever seen. And I still say no foul at the end there. But seriously, why the hell did he defend a three point shot at the buzzer in a four point game? And why St. John’s shoot that three pointer when there was no shot clock? SMH. Kids these days.

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