<p>This has been an ongoing story in a town near me, where nine players for one of the town’s two high schools have been charged with beating two students from the other high school, leaving one unconscious. sadly, much of the concern among some people in the town is–will they get to play in the title game?</p>
<p>The only concern I have is that some charged supposedly have alibis that they were not at the scene of the fight.
I do believe the school can prohibit any kid from participating but it is possible innocent kids are getting punished.</p>
<p>garland on another site I read the persons whose front lawn the fight happened on (supposedly) says the story in the media is inaccurate. I will see if I can find his post.</p>
<p>Here is one of his posts. I will attempt to find the one where he claims the fight was on his front yard.</p>
<p>Re: Nothing about the Wayne Hills football players? Reply
Although, I’ve Discused it some in premium, it’s easier to have an intelligent conversation here. If what the newspapers were reporting was true, I’d agree with all of you. However, the papers are not reporting the actual events, not even close.</p>
<p>For some, the overemphasis on athletics starts in preschool. I am speaking of the decision that many parents make: Delay the start of kindergarten for their boys, so that they will be bigger, stronger, and better athletes than their classmates by the time they are in high school. We are seeing many more 6 year olds in kindergarten than we ever did before.</p>
<p>Tom–of course there’s a lot unknown. Something really bad happened, and I’d like to think that the police have reasons for the charges. </p>
<p>OTOH, what bothers me most is the attitude typified by the school board meeting where coach, team members, and parents bullied the process. Also, the idea that they’re being picked on because they’re football players. (Uh, yeah, non-football players wouldn’t be barred from playing football, duh.) Playing is a privilege, not a right, and the sheer weight of concern over the game rather than the case is daunting, even given that we don’t know all the facts. The facts we know are that someone was beaten to unconsciousness, and these young men have been charged. That ought to be the center right now.</p>
<p>Here is another of the guys posts.-and its gotten worse due to bad reporting. Hell, I had fox 5 news coming my house and street last week for footage…crazy</p>
<p>I can not find the one where he says it happened on his front lawn- sorry.</p>
<p>What is your feelings about kids charged that have an alibi that they were not there?</p>
<p>I will not bother to find the posts but the person posting claims that the victim was not beaten as badly as they claim and was on facebook 2 hours after the fight. I have no idea if any of that is correct.</p>
<p>I think what the football coach claimed was that if these kids were involved in any other school activity the board would never have been involved. Supposedly the board acknowledged that to be true.</p>
<p>Tom–can’t speak to why they’re charged if they have an alibi. that does seem odd. Perhaps the police aren’t convinced by it, or it contradicts other evidence? I guess we’ll have to wait to see what the evidence is as this goes on. It does seem strange that they would single out people who weren’t there.</p>
<p>Someone on the news last night said that if the coach had benched those in question when this first happened, it would never have involved a state game…</p>
<p>No vested interest here, but Wayne Valley/Wayne Hills issue had been around long before we moved to NJ…</p>
<p>And when I first read the thread that garland started, my first thought was also, " preschool" not necessarily HS</p>
<p>Well, yeah, about pre-school. I was riffing off of the recent discussions about college athletics, but no argument here about the earlier issues.</p>
<p>I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at that one… think I will laugh.</p>
<p>You could make the same argument if a minor was accused of murder. Suspending or even benching the accused (or jailing) would violate his rights by revealing his identity…</p>
<p>High school football idolatry has reached stupid proportions in NJ public schools. I don’t live in Wayne, but I do live in a town that has a big football program. It distorts the priorities and atmosphere at the high school. Football idolatry is one reason why we encouraged our D to apply to one of the county magnet high schools instead. And the local high school wonders why the bright kids don’t want to go there. Stuff like this is the reason why.</p>