by Kent Sterling
Not much really happened, which is not what I thought would be the case. When I was in high school, if this kind of thing ever happened to a school we were playing, I would have made sure we chanted some entirely inappropriate things. Brebeuf, Carmel’s opponent for tonight’s senior night game, is a school filled with clever kids. I thought they might be as immature and classless as I was. No such luck.
The nicest moment of the night was the ovation Alex Payne got when the remaining senior was introduced as part of Carmel’s starting lineup. I like that. I am assuming that there won’t be anything in coming days to sully this kid, and it occurred to me that it must have been very hard for him tonight. I assume that he grew up playing with the four seniors who’ve been dismissed from the team, and that their senior year would be a time of celebration and tests to see how good they had become. With all that out the window and him the lone representative of his class, he must have felt a little alone.
The other part of the scenario, and I’m taking some liberty in drawing these lines and coloring inside them to suit me need for a narrative, is that as the other seniors were allegedly abusing freshman, Alex refused to participate. His refusal, I hope, is because he saw what was going on as wrong and wanted no part of it. Saying no to friends who try to prod you into a bad act is not easy, and Alex might have done just that.
Saying no to friends can sequester a kid into a very isolated place. Most 18-year-olds don’t know that it’s better to be alone and right than popular and an idiot. That kind of maturity isn’t always grasped by 40-year-olds. If Alex did that, good for him. He’s on his way to being a quality adult, who might lead some kids one day toward making a similarly smart decision. He’s also a pretty damn good ballplayer. When I left the game, he had ten-points and showed a lot of ability to get to the rim.
The only borderline moment was when Fox-59′s Kim King walked into the gym. I didn’t see her until she was in front of the scorer’s table. You have to love this woman, unless you’re a Carmel student as you’ll read in a minute. She is aggressively pursuing a story that is not going to lead to a pretty end for the high school in whose gym she is walking, but she doesn’t slip in the back door. Nope, Kim walks right down to the floor during halftime and crosses in front of the scorer’s table and then the Carmel bench. She stands in the corner with a person I’m guessing is her producer, and the crowd became a little quiet and started pointing. Then there was a bit of huddling, followed by the chant “Go home, Kim! Go home, Kim!” Some of the parents laughed, which I thought was absurd because it was neither clever nor funny. If Carmel is a school filled with as many smart kids as they claim, they should have come up with something witty.
The other issue is that Kim is actually busting her ass to force some accountability into this situation. In the end, that will help the kids enjoy a high school experience where they don’t have to worry about finger buggering.
The night should have been to celebrate high school basketball and the work of a senior class that had worked hard for years to be Carmel Greyhounds. It wasn’t, but that didn’t keep those who went to the game from enjoying Alex Payne as a kid and player.
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While you say the go home kim chant wasn’t witty…when students filmed Kim on camera she told them to “keep your pants up boys”…could this lead to another controversy?
Kim King should have been given a standing ovation by the Carmel parents. Until Kim started asking tough questions he and his faithful flock were okay with a 5 day suspension. If not for Kim, these disgusting seniors would have received standing o’s and high fives at senior night.They would have been treated like wartime heroes instead of the punks that they are. Carmel parents are stereotyped as being overly protective of their children. Why are they protecting them from Kim King? Why AREN’T they protecting them from future sexual assault?
Heres to that comment….these boys need punished. The principal need fired and the superintendent is a joke—seemed like a SNL skit on tv during the news conference. I am discusted and angered…I have had my daughter bullied at the lower level at CHS and no one helped me..or her. I have had a child sexually assaulted as well and I am here to tellyou it is the HARDEST issue to deal with and these “VICTIMS” (which they clearly are) are scarred for life….it will take a lot of therapy and support…trust me I am living it. CLEAN HOUSE CARMEL MAKE ARE KIDS SAFE!!!!! IT IS NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE SPORTS!!!!
How is it we’re supposed to love this King woman? Her aggression shows she wants to be judge, jury and executioner as well, and not only on this issue. That’s how she operates. Does she think she’s in Hollywood or Washington, D.C.? There’s a way to pursue, but her way is especially heinous.
R U KIDDING ME??? You must be on some sort of CHS board
=>Bravo Kathy, and shame on you Laura. Kim King is a hero. As a native Hoosier, I am reading this story from afar and am stunned the kids are so defensive, and certain parents so blind. What is being described is not bullying, I think we all ‘know it when we see it’, to paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart. This is way beyond bullying. Its warped and disturbed. Nor is it common through the years, as a poster to this blog suggested. Somehow I don’t think Tom Abernathy was digitally violating John Laskowski at St Joseph high school. I have a sick feeling the video evidence was intentionally destroyed for a reason. Its a shame a fine institution like Carmel is stained by the actions of a few. But stained they are.
The media is shining a light on the story amd giving bringing accountablity to a situation that badly needs it. Kim is the most zealous of the bunch, but this is an situation that demands zealous reporting.
Right on Concerned Parent, and its not going to stop here. Hazing?!? Closing your eyes and hoping to will go away is not going to work, Carmel parents.
Unbelievable! My son, also a high schooler (Fishers) was detailing some of the things these boys are “alleged” of doing. I had to make him stop – it was nauseating. It is disgusting that, on a bus full of students and COACHES, not to mention the bus driver, felt no need to intervene. Keep on pushes Kim! Cripes, there are Carmel mothers who have pushed harder to have Victoria Secrets remove their window displays. To the accused: I believe you will all feel the loss of dignity when you are digitally raped.
And all but forgotten is that is was senior night for the cheerleaders, too.
Keep going, Kim. It’s not a “hazing” incident, it’s a SEXUAL ASSAULT incident. If it had been any one of our children who was assaulted, we’d all be applauding her.
But good job, too, cheerleaders. You had a great season, too.
The most bizarre aspect of this story is the response of the Carmel parents who want this swept under the rug. How strange. None of us likes to think that athletic kids who are good students are capable of this kind of behavior. Everyone likes to think that it’s always the beneath the radar loners who bring terror to schools, and that as long as our kids are outgoing and popular, everything will be okay. Wrong.
Does anyone know if these seniors are openly homosexual?
I haven’t heard any allegations that they are homosexual.
Wow … did you actually say “showed a lot of ability to get to the rim”? Yikes.
I am in total agreement that Alex needs to be celebrated for making the right choices. I’ve really enjoyed watching him play basketball … I was talking to his mom after the game the other night and called him a “scrappy” player … darting in and out and grabbing the ball and making the baskets … He’s a lot of fun to watch.
To the rim. Not above the rim. He drove baseline twice and finish with nice reverse lay-ups. To me, that’s getting to the rim.
Oh, I know what you meant, Kent… my macabre humor just kicked into gear … Mea culpa.
A particularly brilliant line in your story is, “Most 18-year-olds don’t know that it’s better to be alone and right than popular and an idiot. That kind of maturity isn’t always grasped by 40-year-olds.”
So, so, so true…
I also found it interesting – and telling – that at Brebeuf gathered their student body for an assembly on Friday to remind them they were traveling to Carmel to support their basketball team. They were told to put aside the events that had been unfolding at Carmel and be good representatives of Brebeuf and to show good sportsmanship.
In sharp contrast, from what I understand after talking to my children (two at CHS) before the game and to a few memberes of the CHS staff at the game, the only way that Carmel has addressed the students and staff regarding this issue has been via the intercom system. I’d heard the principal, JW, say on the news that they’d “talked to students and staff,” and so I asked my daughter how that went. She had no idea what I was talking about. I explained what I’d heard and she said, “Oh, yeah… he was talking during announcements but no one listens to the announcements …”
I didn’t know at the time that Brebeuf had called its student body together but I was FLABBERGASTED that Carmel didn’t. And as far as I know, they still haven’t. The only communication we’ve received as parents is a recorded message from the prinicipal saying that everyone was saddened and embarrassed by the recent events that had occurred…
I’m not embarrassed; I’m horrified! I can’t believe they haven’t brought in an outside speaker to address the entire student body about what “hazing” is and why it’s NEVER appropriate. I can’t believe they haven’t explained to us, as parents, why our children are not safe on a bus with four adults onboard to supervise. So far the only defense I’ve heard is “we have a policy in our handbook.” WHAT?!? That statement is embarassing.
What a disgrace. There are advantages to a public school education, but one of the things I really appreciated about Cathedral (where my son graduated in 2007) was there was little in the way of bureaucracy. A kid got caught doing something against policy, he was gone – regardless of how plugged in the parents are. There was a kid who played basketball with my son who was caught smoking pot. His dad was the CEO of a prominent company headquartered in town. The next day he was enrolled in a military school. That might sound harsh, but it was a sure deterrent for others considering the same thing.
Where would Carmel assemble its students, Conseco Fieldhouse? The principal at Brebeuf probably knows virtually every staudent by name. It’s unlikely Kreskin could learn all the names of the Carmel students. When the head count at a high school rivals that of a small town, you can expect problems.
Hopefully, Carmel sorts this out sooner rather than later, and the parents rise up to demand a system be implemented by the next superintendent and principal that will hold children quickly accountable for this kind of act.
I wonder what line would have to be crossed before a kid was expelled or punished in a meaningful way?
The first three boys in this case, as I understand it, are expelled. They won’t be roaming the halls or locker-rooms of Carmel High School. (Of course until the media started pushing, the first three were [allegedly] kicked off the basketball team and suspended for five days.) I’m not sure of the status of the boy behind Locker-Room Door #4.
Obviously laws were broken on a bus by male students / basketball players somewhere between here and Terre Haute.
I don’t think the parents of these boys are throwing their influential weight around. As a parent myself, I have to believe that they are living in their own 24/7 hell right now. The parents aren’t appearing before the media and acting like buffoons. They aren’t chastizing the school. They aren’t making excuses for their children.
So who is?
Who else should be held accountable?
Well, let’s think for a minute about how we got to this point. Do you think, over the years, that administrators and teachers and coaches have just “overlooked” bad behavior under the guise of “kids will be kids?” And is there a possibility that when a well-meaning teacher or coach tries to intervene, he or she is shut down? We all know that kids who “snitch” get “paid back” with greater intensity if their snitching is revealed. So they shut up, they take it, they live in fear and each year it gets worse and worse. One day, it goes too far. Either the perpetrator or the victim snaps. It becomes a crime.
When that day comes, it appears that no one in the school administration / law enforcement “family” can scramble quickly enough to deflect responsibility. It reminds me of the scene in The Wizard of Oz when the Scarecrow, who remember was in need of a brain, didn’t know which direction to go so he pointed in both directions, crossing his arms and spinning around and falling down.
So the play goes something like this…
Act I. The criminal acts occur. As WRONG as the three senior boys were on the bus, they have had enablers along the way. Something kept them from thinking that they’d EVER be punished for their actions.
So where does Act II begin? I think it picks up as parents and members of the community learn just how far the administration and city officials will go to cover their own a**es to protect themselves, their city, their jobs and to “avoid embarrassment.” I’m not completely convinced they the reputation of Carmel High School is what they are protecting.
The press conference with The Three Stooges was unforgettable as Moe, Curly and Larry yipped variations of the same three words in diverse inflections: “We can’t comment.”
Does anyone believe that having a written bullying policy is an adequate defense? Speed limit signs are posted everywhere but they are not always followed. And in the case where they are exceeded, there’s an officer nearby to enforce the law. It is absurd for the AD to defend the school to the Indianapolis Star defending the school by citing a “written bullying policy.” I’m sure there’s a “written profanity policy,” too, but I doubt that it’s consistently reinforced. Why was the principal not the spokesperson? Maybe he doesn’t want his words to be used against him? Better to lead the lambs to slaughter than go himself.
I watched as three senior boys surrounded Kim King at the game last Friday night. With cell phone cameras in tow, they positioned themselves very close to her and asked if they could interview her. (With no prepared questions, of course.) Kim behaved professionally and asked if they’d like a picture taken *with* her. Their physical proximity to her was so close that I felt threatened for her; just as I stood up to go find either a police officer or an administrator, I saw JW take note of the situation. I said to the mom next to me, “Oh good, Williams saw it – he’ll handle it,” and we watched in amazement as he momentarily observed the situation and then turned on his heel and headed in a different direction. It took him a moment or two to find an assistant principal to whom he delegated the job of coralling the senior boys. It took her several minutes, in her tight jeans, UGG boots, tight shirt and bright blond hair, to convince the boys to leave. Kim’s parting shot was, ”Keep your pants up.” She issued a public apology for stepping over the line, but after being accosted by three boys, I can’t say I would have behaved any differently. And so far, I haven’t seen an apology issued by the boys to Kim for their inappropriate conduct. My take on it is that JW didn’t want to get anywhere NEAR Kim King, lest she start asking more questions. Parents have expressed outrage at her comment. Really? Digitally penetrating another human being against his will is much more respectable.
I think the three boys on the bus did what they did, in part, because they didn’t think they’d be held accountable. I said to a friend the other night it wouldn’t surprise me if other kids started coming out of the shadows of the locker room alleging similar kinds of abuse – much like when a priest is accused of child molestation and once the door is unlocked, many more people start to push it open wider and say, “Me too.”
The students who committed the heinous acts have been and will continue to be held accountable. They were holding the smoking gun. Their names have been released to the media; there is an ongoing criminal investigation and their diplomas are likely to read, “State Correctional Facility.” At this point, that seems pretty clear. I haven’t heard any of the three or four sets of parents defending the actions of their sons on the bus that night.
But… there are several questions to which my Magic 8 Ball answers, “Looks hazy. Ask again later.”
1. What are the names of the four (?) men accompanying the boys on the FRESHMAN bus? From what I understand, there was a bus driver, of course, and three or four coaches. I’ve not heard any of their names being released and I presume they are not under investigation. So there doesn’t seem to be a privacy issue there … unless it’s just better to keep that under wraps.
2. Why were the seniors allowed to be ON the freshman bus? Who said that was A-OK? Was it one (or more) of the freshman coaches or one (or more) of the varsity coaches?
3. If no one specifically gave the boys permission to be on that bus and they somehow slipped onto the bus without any of the freshman coaching staff or the bus driver detecting them, why didn’t one of the varsity coaches go looking for the three “missing” players; and then, of course, instruct them to get back on their own bus? (I’m assuming the three boys *were* accounted for before the buses pulled out of Terre Haute and headed for Carmel. They still take attendance – or do a head count -to make sure they’ve got all the kids, right?)
As a parent, I have an ABSOLUTE expectation that my child, when under the care of the school corporation, will be exactly where he/she is supposed to be at all times. If he’s supposed to be on bus number 64, I don’t want him slipping over to bus 65. I depend on the SCHOOL to keep track of that. I don’t want my freshman son exposed to senior boys who feel empowered to use their physical stature and elevated status within any particular sport to overwhelm him.
It’s time for Act II to begin. I want a community/parent meeting and I want to be able to ask my questions to the administrators. I don’t want to talk to the AD. I want to talk to the superintendent and the principal and the coaches. And I’d suggest they get that done before asking voters to vote “YES” on May 4th for the school funding referendum. They cut the freshman basketball cheer squad to save money but they take a busload of freshman to a game they won’t play in on their own bus to Terre Haute.
Shit rolls downhill. And while there is no excuse for the boys who committed the acts of violence, it seems to me that we’re not going to know any more about that until the police wrap up their investigation. (And hope springs eternal that it’s a clean investigation.) I want to know who started the turd rolling from the top … I want to hear from those at the top who are charged with setting the tone and enforcing expected behaviors …. and for holding the administrators accountable who allow students a pass instead of following their own policies.
And you’re right – in lieu of bussing the entire student body of Carmel to Conseco to talk to them (though I’ve been at school pep rallies where all students fit in the gymnasium), divide them by classes and give the same talk four different times. Jeff Swensson (who prefers to be referred to as “Dr. Jeff Swenssen) obviously has a doctorate in education … surely he could have figured out the logistics of speaking to the student body. I have a mere Bachelor’s degree and I can figure it out.
And then take the road show to the three junior high schools.
I’ll bet Barbara Underwood is doing the happy dance for her decision to retire mid year. I saw her at the game on Friday night but not Dr. Swensson.
I have not seen any report on their expulsion. If that’s true, it’s new information.
They will never have a parent conference. I would love it if they would do that, and I agree they should allow parents an opportunity to demand answers. If they answered evasively, as they would, the boobs would be chased from the building. If they answered honestly, they would all be fired before their heads hit the pillow that night.
The funding referendum is going to be a lot of fun. Good luck.
By the way, thanks for the well-informed comment. Thanks for taking the time to share.
You may be right about the expulsion … that’s information gleaned from my daughter, at student at CHS. It may be that they are indefinitely suspended until the investigation is completed. My understanding is that they are definitely not attending classes.
You’re right … there will never be a meeting where parents can ask questions. And even if there was, we’d all have to appoint proxies from other areas to ask our questions so our children wouldn’t be the next victims.
This bizarre environment of fear is reason alone to fire everyone involved. News reports last night and this morning cite the media as the rationale for witnesses changing their stories. I think it’s much more likely that people are afraid of Galloway and Williams bringing unpleasant consequences upon families who cooperate.