Melee at Arabia Mountain High: ‘Turn Up Thursday’ and Twitter turn DeKalb school into a mess
An Arabia Mountain student tweeted this photo of police at the school Thursday.
UPDATE Monday: AJC education writer Ernie Suggs is doing a news story on what happened at Arabia Mountain. He says: I want to talk to a parent or a student who was at the school and witnessed the event. I can be reached at 404-526-5672 and esuggs@ajc.com.
Several of you have asked about a purported student melee at Arabia Mountain High School on Thursday that apparently was fueled by an avalanche of Twitter messages and led to police descending in force.
I have asked DeKalb Schools for official comment. I have not received one yet.
Here is one of the e-mails I received from a reader: On Thursday there were two food fights, a fire in the bathroom, flooding from a broken pipe, over a dozen county police officers. It appears to be something called Turn it up Thursday.
If you search Twitter, you will find dozens and dozens of messages from Arabia Mountain students saying, “I survived #TurnUpThursday” or “Glad I survived #TURNUPTHURSDAY.”
Many of the tweets reference assistant principal Monica Black, saying, “Monica Black .. DIDN’T Survive #TurnUpThursday At Arabia Mountain High School.”
(There was also a message that said, “Thanks to #TurnUpThursday, today is #EatLunchInTheClassroomFriday.”)
A half hour ago, a female student posted this comment on Twitter: “That was a crazy day that will forever go down in Arabia Mountain History.. LMAO.” (That stands for “laughing my a** off.”)
She’s right, but it will go down in history for all the wrong reasons.
It has tarnished the school’s name and reputation and fed the critics who believe DeKalb is a system on the decline. You can get a sense of the community outrage over this event by checking out the comments on DeKalb School Watch.
I asked a poster whose children attend Arabia if his kids were affected: He said:
Unfortunately my son was in the cafeteria when the melee began. I’m thankful he remembered my teachings and moved as far away as possible.
In keeping with wanting to go paperless, the school provided the wireless security code to the students. This is what provided the opportunity for the Twitter messages that when out during the school day. I wonder if the school will reconsider this given the negative publicity that has come from the students’ messages. In our day things like this happened but we didn’t have the Internet to let the entire world see our misbehaving.
There are four parent meetings after we return from the holiday break. I will assume they will want to discuss what happened along with possible changes in school policies. This incident has given a regretful black eye to the school and community.
Before the rants begin about urban schools run amok, this chain-reaction bedlam happens at all sorts of schools. I covered a swank suburb in my first job and a similar event happened there, although there was no Twitter to escalate a food fight into senseless vandalism.
I am sorry this happened for all the good kids at Arabia who came to school Thursday ready to learn.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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176 comments Add your comment
Digger
December 20th, 2011
12:48 am
Beautifully written former Spark Parent. The problem is, the dirty little secret if you will, is the second students are segregated by behavior, you realize they are also segregated by race. Any principal at any school knows this in their heart of hearts. And in these PC times, in order to keep their jobs, teachers and principals run like the wind away from doing what is necessary to maintain a productive atmosphere for everyone.
Anonymous
December 20th, 2011
1:59 am
one kids are kids teens are teens they/we do stupid stuff life is life many of y’all have done some pretty dumb/ignorant stuff in your life time luckily everyone left alive and was a experience like no other this is no surprise stop getting your expectation towards a school that is so high in expectation because deep down through that uniform there’s a child who’s going through life just like everyone on this earth
Horrible
December 20th, 2011
8:59 am
Translation of Anonymous:
“Hey, you know, we’re like, stupid and irresponsible – what do you expect? Nobody died. Lighten up; everybody does it.”
HS Math Teacher
December 20th, 2011
9:27 am
Back in the day (early 70’s), at least once a month, a group of guys would turn the school on its’ ear. An m-80 going off in one of those old metal trash cans, firecrackers going off in a locker (family jumbo pack), apples thrown over the building (from smoking tree – teens who had a permit to smoke) into a courtyard packed full of 9th & 10th graders, bottle rockets lit in the hall, ETC. Nothing was ever done about it. The principal was a softy, much like the one on Porky’s. “Boys will be boys” was his mantra. The perpetrators were a bunch of FFA guys (all white). I guess you could call them a gang, but they were just pranksters.
I thought it was funny at the time. Columbine, and all the other incidents of guns in school in the last decade, have changed all that.
A Student
December 20th, 2011
11:12 am
@ Digger: I disagree…. mostly everyone is black, speaking truthfully. Race doesn’t even matter in this case and it shouldn’t.
@ Anonymous: i agree. We are all young, even though this shouldn’t be expected, this is something that COULD happen. Some people are exxagerating it a bit. It wasn’t all that serious, to me.
@Horrible: What she/he is saying is, is that we’re all young; we make mistakes; we play around; of course, some people didn’t know where to stop, but things like this CAN happen.
And no one had a gun except the police, guys. :p
Another AMHS Student
December 20th, 2011
11:32 am
As an Arabia Mountain student I would like to address many of the claims in these comments.
1) Don’t blame the teachers, don’t blame the parents, and definitely don’t blame the administrators. I’m not even going to make excuses for what happened on that Thursday it was all our fault, but for you to try and place blame on the teachers or administrators for not trying to take control of the situation is wrong. I saw many teachers and all our administration literally running through the hallways trying to contain the problem and because I was there, unlike many of you, I can attest to their efforts.
2) This was not a pre-planned event. To all the people out there that seem to believe they have all the facts, this was an unfortunate incident where ignorance led to foolishness. One thing led to another and it is as simple as that.
3) To those who are bashing my fellow peers for their profane language I would like for you to take a couple minutes and eavesdrop on your child’s daily conversations; I believe you will find something very interesting.
4) To many of you who now believe that Arabia is a bad school because of one incident, I would like to state that the people do not make a school nor does a school make the people. You should also take a look at many of the “so called” great schools’ history and I am sure you will find a blemish.
5) Finally, since you seem to have so much knowledge about what needs to be done I hope your doing so much to help our situation. I can’t recall a time when posting on a blog did much to help the student. if you really want to make an impact how about you come and talk to the students and actually interact with us. F.Y.I. Meetings don’t have a very big impact on the children themselves.
A Student
December 20th, 2011
11:51 am
@ Another Arabia Mountain Student; regarding to number 5, there’s much to help or get done.. i think we should just leave it. it’s not that serious to me. it was a one time thing, in my eyes. people just decided to act out and be foolish.
Horrible
December 20th, 2011
11:51 am
@A Student
1) “things like this CAN happen” : your new nickname is “Captain Obvious”
2) What he/she is saying is ‘So what? Get over it’. This might not be acceptable to all concerned.
A Student
December 20th, 2011
11:57 am
@Horrible; well stop acting like this is such a big catastrophe and rare, if it’s so obvious. thanks for the nickname…
& Of course it isn’t going to be acceptable… -.- …. this most likely won’t happen again; it hasn’t turned into a daily thing.
Another AMHS Student
December 20th, 2011
12:19 pm
@Horrible: Do you have a problem with us? Did we do something wrong to you? If so I’m sorry but that doesn’t give you the right to bash other people on this blog (A Student) who just want to state their opinion just like you. If you really want something to talk about though i can give you some topics. Like how much scholarship money we got last year through a senior class with a population of about 100 students, and this is purely academic (not athletic or extracurricular). Or how we have made AYP since our first year. Or even how our Juniors have never placed below the 97% passing rate for the Georgia High School Graduation Test.
@Another AMHS Student
December 20th, 2011
1:11 pm
Yes, you did do something to us. The fire, the broken pipe, the damage, etc. costs the taxpayers of DeKalb County. As does having ten plus police officers & cars called out to the school, police officers who should be patrolling the county, but instead were called to a school where the students cannot control themselves.
I feel for the students who care about academics and had the final exams interrupted. And the language used in those tweets is disgusting and ignorant. Like it or not, the perception of the school has taken a deserved nosedive.
A Student
December 20th, 2011
1:17 pm
I think it’s a bit worser at other schools, to be honest. Like I said, it’s not something we’re doing daily. We didn’t break a school pipe.. I don’t know where that rumor came from.
Something like this wouldn’t add like a million dollars to the taxes that taxpayers pay.. >.>
I actually like what someone said earlier. “The school doesn’t make the people… the people don’t make the school”. Why should what a few kids done speak for the whole population… can we bring reason and ethics into this? :p
It’s not like we’re trained dogs. We’re human. We’re young. Stop treating us like robots gone crazy. lol
Horrible
December 20th, 2011
1:46 pm
“worser”? Don’t you mean “more badder”?
HS Math Teacher
December 20th, 2011
2:10 pm
How ’bout “pre-planning” an event. That’s about as silly as “post-concluding”.
Horrible
December 20th, 2011
2:30 pm
I agree – ‘pre-planning’ seems excessively redundant.
Another AMHS Student
December 20th, 2011
3:25 pm
As I have stated before, this was not a pre-planned event, one person threw food at someone else and the story goes on. Also to the person attacking me lets set one thing straight. I did not do anything, the majority of the children did not do anything. It was about 30 people out of a whole school population that actually partake in these “events”. In addition, we control ourselves very well, you should come observe us one day. The way you all are treating us is no worse than the way society treats African-Americans as a whole; because a few of our own people do not act with sense our race is described as ignorant. Change your mindset.
HS Math Teacher
December 20th, 2011
3:49 pm
Black students do not control a monopoly on crazy behavior. I know this as a student & a teacher, and I’ve known this for a long time. Race should not be a factor in this case. I don’t give a damned if everyone of the instigators in this instance are black. I’ve had as many pain-in-the-ass kids to teach who are white, as I’ve had black. Truth be told, most black students love/like me for some reason. Maybe it’s because I love soul food & music. Kidding aside. . . I hope this issue dies down fast. I’ll bet this won’t happen again at this school for a long time, if not ever.
A Sad Student
December 20th, 2011
3:54 pm
@Fred your right… wasn’t a broken pipe… fire set off the sprinklers in the bathroom
A Student
December 20th, 2011
4:10 pm
@ HS Math Teacher: I know, right? It’s most likely not to happen again while everyone is going ballistic.
Another AMHS Student
December 20th, 2011
4:18 pm
Correction: I did not say that race was the issue, if you took the time to read and consider what I said you would see that I was simply comparing the slander of the black community as a whole as to what is happening to our school. Also, even though I did not partake I still apologized on behalf of my whole school, what more is there to ask for. We can’t change what we did, but change won’t come until we move on from this situation. It is so easy to point out the flaws in a school or a person, but i do not recall there being any articles on the positive impacts our school, as well as our students have made. So to the community, we’re sorry. To the educators, we are sorry. Finally, to our administrators, we are sorry. Let’s all act like adults and move on.
long time educator
December 20th, 2011
6:50 pm
@ Another AMHS student,
Have the good non-involved students helped teachers and administrators identify the 30 students who rioted so they could be expelled? The best way to save the reputation of your school is to expell those who vandalized the school. That would send a clear message to everyone, inside the school and outside in the community.
Sensible
December 21st, 2011
11:42 am
The sad part about Arabian Mountain is that it is the high school on the School Choice List for DeKalb county as identified by NCLB. It use to be the north Dekalb schools like Dunwoody, Chamblee, and Tucker. However these schools said, “No More to this mess”. So they are no longer swamped with students who conduct themselves like his under the belief that this is how students behave. Parents with these rowdy children lie and say their want the best for their children, who don’t even know how to go to the restroom without trying to flood the restroom. These parents and their children are all total jokes!! Public education is the venue which continues to be held responsible for these problems. Public education is a building, the problem is what comes into the building based upon the laws of the land.
Public education should not conutiue to be an expectation, but more of a qualification requirement. You must be qualified to attend public education. Or has Newt says, “Give them a broom”.
Receiving School Counselor
December 22nd, 2011
5:56 am
When can we begin to discuss more discipline needed at schools and the parent responsibility to address student behavior? Schools can only teach so much behavior in their environment but we need parents to step up and help enforce the proper behaviors. Hopefully the parent meetings will support the need for more discipline in and out of their school. Schools are only as good as their community support. Are we not trying to create responsible young adults within our communities?
Ole Guy
December 22nd, 2011
11:33 pm
STUDENT MELEE!!?? Paddle every one of their stinkin’ sixes till they glow like coals on the barbee. Then send em back into the classrooms.
Answer to Ole Guy
December 24th, 2011
11:00 am
And be prepared for a $1+ million lawsuit from each of their parents, since corporal punishment in public schools is prohibited by state law. Such a lawsuit recently was filed by the parents of a spec. ed. student who was a disciplinary problem in class and “paddled.”
Ole Guy
December 24th, 2011
2:31 pm
Point well-taken. THIS is why the problems and issues within the education camp CANNOT be addressed and (potentially) solved in a piecemeal manner…it all boils down to (as we call it in the military) command and control. Without C&C, everything else is just BS, a complete and utter waste of time and money, and destined to miserable failure (in military operations, one may equate miserable failure to the worse ultimate outcome imaginable). This is EXACTLY where education is headed, along with a few generations which are supposed to, in a few short years, be prepared to “take the baton”.
When one becomes overpowered and inundated with current-day issues and fears (I might get my feet wet/”million dollar lawsuits”, etc), one will likely find oneself in the “deep end” of lifes’ pool with no means of support, unable to swim, much less tread water, and simply “drown”. If generation upon generation had their collective butts paddled as a means of enforcing behavior with no “long-lasting damage to their psyche”…and no law suits…WHATNHELL HAPPENED? You parents would do well to DO WHATEVER PARENTS DO THESE DAYS to square away your damn kids…before they turn out to be just as _ U _ K _ D _ P as you.