Last week a student was beaten in a bathroom at Madison’s West High School. The school district would like you to know that there’s nothing to see here.
Press reports of the incident were sketchy due to the standard lack of information provided by the district. Then a video of the incident, recorded on a cell phone by someone who was present, surfaced on the Internet. In response, West High Principal Dan Kigeya sent an email to parents.
For the record, I’ve seen the video. It’s very brief, but also violent and disturbing. Still, I wouldn’t call it graphic. It shows one student (I’m assuming everyone in the video is a student, but I don’t know that) violently kicking another student who is on the floor and apparently attempting to cover their head. Other students are in the frame, but it’s not clear what they’re doing.
While certainly unpleasant, it’s an important piece of information for law enforcement and even for the public. We have a right to know what’s happening in our schools.
Kigeya’s email begins: “I’m writing this afternoon to let you know that we anticipate further media coverage, likely tonight, of last week’s episode of violence in our school. As many of you are aware, one of our students recorded the incident with their cell phone. We do not know whether that footage will be included in any reporting, but recognize the harm that both its existence and further media items about this incident are likely to continue to cause.”