That Proviso is a failed high school district can be defined in so many ways. Test scores, drop-outs, attendance levels, political corruption, the state takeover of the district. And now the end-of-school rumble.
On May 31 the school year ended at Proviso East. Class was dismissed. The students exited and about instantaneously some 300 kids began a brawl that went on for hours, spread across much of Maywood, required more than 40 cops from multiple towns to be called in and led to 10 arrests.
A week later the school district finally issued a statement – that after cell phone video of the cascading battle went viral and was picked up by local and national media. And typically the school washed its hands clean. Not our doing, says District 209. This all happened off our campus, they said. “Our school year ended without any incident, and we are very pleased to report that,” said the press release.
Your school year ended with a massive brawl. Maywood’s police chief says the school did not tell his department that school was ending at 9:30 in the morning. How can that possibly be true? Again this school district is in denial. And Forest Parkers are paying for it every year. Paying a lot.
Sure the problems are complex. The brawlers are a bunch of knuckleheads and need to be prosecuted. Parents are certainly responsible for this out of control behavior by their children. That doesn’t let the school, or the district, off the hook.
Why not a statement from the district saying, “This is not the proud behavior we expect of our Proviso Pirates?”
