Regarding Mr. Boyce and the altercation in the school cafeteria: My wife graduated from Proviso East High School in 1965 and I was in the Class of 1962. During the years of Proviso sports, you could say I was an avid fan of PEHS.

My wife and I attended many sporting events and have seen crowd control lacking at the school. 

I believe the school does not have the ability to stop the incidents that I have seen in the past without some measure of force. In many cases, just trying to control a situation involves calling the police. 

This brings up the situation of security guard Donnie Boyce, trying to break up a fight between a pregnant girl and another party in the school cafeteria. Words sometimes are not enough to control the situation, and when a security guard gets involved, he or she usually has to use some means to separate the parties. The situation gets physical, and I would like to know why Mr. Boyce is now on suspension for what appears to be an accusation that he used too much force. As a rule, the job of security is to stop the parties by separating them. Just using verbal orders to stop, in many cases, does no good at all. A third party must step in and stop the instigator if possible. Before we punish the third party, Mr. Boyce, let’s put ourselves in his position.  

Prior to this incident, my wife and I were visiting PEHS and asked security if we could possibly see Mr. Boyce to wish him luck on the coming season. Within five minutes we had the pleasure of talking with Mr. Boyce. He visited with us for approximately 45 minutes. I told Mr. Boyce I noticed he handled his teams with little problems. We went on to talk about most of the kids having little or no guidance at home, but showed respect for their school and for Donnie. Mr. Boyce said he was respectful to his players, and they returned their respect to him. He knew his players well, handled them with pride, and did not let the players have their way.

Donnie invited my wife and I to visit their locker room, when we attended a game. His last words to us were that the kids would really enjoy meeting us. Donnie’s success should not be measured by wins and losses, but by character. Donnie is a gentleman. I hope he continues to work with the kids.

 Patrick A. Oberg, Jr.

Forest Park