April 05, 2007
Thursday PM

Well it seems that this community has found itself a conflict. Conflicts can be healthy from time to time, but I don't think that this is one of those times. Echoing what my grandmother said recently, I'd say it's time to move on from "Martingate" and have some healthy change within our school system. I realize some people may be afraid of change and oppose it in its many forms, but trust me, I think things will work out.

Feeding the flames of conflict over the school board decision isn't going to help anyone. No one can deny that what the board did was legal and that what it did was well within its power. It s for us to trust the reasoning of our elected officials, some of whom, like Dave Leiben, have already reached out to the students and explained their position. That seems to be what brought up the subject of Ketchikan Underground here on Sitnews, and that brings me to my primary point here.

The site ketchikanunderground.com is a place where anyone, but specifically high school students here in Ketchikan, is allowed to speak their mind and write about absolutely anything. Whether you appreciate that or not doesn't particularly concern me. I would like to particularly address Ms. Zink, however.

The quotes that Ms. Zink selected from the site referring to the superintendent were taken out of context and perhaps taken much too seriously. As I said, Ketchikan Underground is for anyone to write about anything, so most of it is simply the type of conversation you would hear from any teenager. At least the first two quotes hand-picked by Ms. Zink were pure satire, meant to put a humorous bend to a serious topic. To be truthful, the first that she cited was mine, (Xenophoenix) and that was originally what brought me to addressing her letter. Again, however, that was within an article of mine urging students to share (on Sitnews, in fact, as I specifically suggested) how they were affected, positively or negatively, by the superintendent and his policies.

It may perhaps be annoying for some people for teenagers to be posting articles here in such short succession, something that happens very rarely I'm sure, if at all, but my issue is that opinions like Mrs. Chaudhary's and Ms. Zink's support general opinion that opinions like mine should not be taken seriously by the adult community. It may be useful to remind or inform people for the first time that this is not the first time where Ketchikan Underground and Kayhi's student body at large has been involved in issues with Harry Martin.

A major galvanizing event among Kayhi students, mostly against Mr. Martin, was his attempt to demote Mr. Eklund, something, it might be said, that eventually led to the irony that is now, with Mr. Eklund set to take his place. Ketchikan Underground was a catalyst for students speaking their mind on the issue, and we largely organized the huge gathering of students that went to the board meeting to support our principal.

Other topics, such as the recent locked door policy that has in my opinion created an uninviting, distrustful and closed atmosphere at the school, have been discussed as well, but I am reaching a close here on my discussion of the recent letters on KU and I m sure that any adult still reading this has much better things to do now than listen to the unimportant writings of a mere 15-year old.

Peter Stanton
Ketchikan, AK


Received April 05, 2007 - Published April 05, 2007

About: "A 15-year old student at Ketchikan High School and active member of ketchikanunderground.com"

 

Send A Letter -------Read Letters

E-mail the Editor at editor@sitnews.us

Sitnews
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska