WJ/BCC Fight - No racism please!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Mooney sent another community message last night about the two investigations (by MCPS and the police). I thought the second sentence here was interesting:

“I also spoke directly to our students to recognize the impact events like this have on their feelings of personal safety and security, while also ensuring the students that the individuals who made the unacceptable choice to engage in the violence depicted on social media would be held accountable. Those who made the choice to video and post this behavior will also be held accountable as this adds to disruption and inappropriately celebrates violence.”

Without video, of course, it would be easier to sweep under the rug...

MCPS has been embarrassed and is lashing out.

The principal is right. It is truly despicable to record this type of thing and post it on social media. It is meant to humiliate and glorify violence as well as garner views. It has nothing to to with hiding anything. Some people have very twisted minds to think the principal means to hide anything when he states that kids shouldn't be recording this kind of thing and posting it on social media. Really twisted.

Both things are valid. It's awful to record someone's trauma or humiliation for the entertainment of others, but documenting this stuff also brings serious and real problems and crimes to light. So it's a double-edged sword.

I’m guessing that some kids were overwhelmed and knew they couldn’t stop it so started taping. This is what adults seem to do every time something dramatic happens in public. It’s not exactly unusual behavior.

Maybe let’s focus first on the violent kids who were stomping on other kids’ heads.

Seems like BCC never punishes those kids. Is there any update on identifying those kids? Charging them? Kicking them out of BCC?

Until then I can’t take the silly emails coming from the principal.

All this and when will the WJ kids be brought to the same justice.

Drunk, disorderly, fighting… embarrassing

It’s clear to both principals that the WJ kids were attacked. Go back and read their letters. Read the news reports about the racial slurs being changed from the BCC stands at WJ players and fans. I don’t think your both sides theory is going to play out.

Where are the news reports about racial slurs (and I don't mean comments on Twitter - actual news reports)? I'm a BCC parent and was at the game. The BCC fans were separated from the WJ fans by the BCC band section and the BCC parent section, so the BCC students in the stands weren't directing anything toward the WJ fans. I was in the BCC parent section and couldn't make out what BCC students were chanting most of the time. I think the "but white BCC kids were chanting racist stuff" was a convenient narrative when it looked like it was black WJ kids beating up white BCC students. But that turned out not to be the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
10:47 again.

I want to point out that the perpetrators might not actually be from either school! It's possible that on a Friay night before a long weekend, some violent youths may have laid in wait at the metro to target individuals or small groups. They exploited the fact that there was a game at BCC and that the metro station is close by.

So, with that thought in mind, I think we need to do our utmost to identify most of the perpetrators before we blame WJ or BCC kids, the football, the coaches, the principals, etc.

What we could do, regardless of who is responsible, is:
1. Schedule the game for a Saturday earlier in the day. In the past it's proven effective as a deterrent to violence.
2. Provide more police presence in and around the school, particularly at transport hubs.
3. Press charges against the violent youths and have sentencing be a serious deterrent. MCPS cannot be relied on to provide adequate consequences. This is a police matter.

I would just like to note that the students fighting were indeed WJ and BCC kids as I am a student at BCC myself and know and recognize some of the victims. I was at the football game and stayed in bethesda afterward, hearing about the aftermath and arriving at the scene a couple minutes after it happened.

I hope you reached out to the BCC principal to report what you saw and identify the students that you are able to identify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why were the kids at the metro? That doesn’t seem like a typical destination after a game.

You may find this shocking but some people in this county use the metro as a mode of transportation!

Not if they live within a few miles of the Bethesda Metro. The Metro does not go anywhere near Walter Johnson. Where would they be going? Wheaton? -- "the Horror."

A lot of WJ students live near Grosvenor or White Flint.

Or Medical Center -- the area just to the north and northeast of Medical Center is zoned to WJ. Plus the 47 bus, 30 bus, and the J2 bus, all of which run right up the WJ catch area both depart from the Bethesda metro station. My kid wasn't at the game, but if he was, it would be 100% normal for him to stop at Chipotle for a second dinner, and then take one of those buses home. I would not have thought twice about that.

+1. My kid is a freshman at WJ. He was not at the game either but would have totally walked to find food after the game. What grade were these kids involved in the fight? They looked older in the videos I saw. I asked my kid if the school/ teachers addressed/ talked about the fight with the students today or if his friends were talking about it and he said no.

Unbelievable. So much for prioritizing mental health.

That is not true. My 10th grader at WJ felt good about the WJ principal’s strong address to the school on Tuesday about the fight. She applauded the students who attended the game for creating a positive atmosphere, emphasized that the fight was unacceptable, and implored them not to retaliate. Counselor support was offered for kids with concerns.

I’m the pp. Yes, the WJ principal seems fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a kid who was expelled once already and back in school who lives in suitland, md and a female who is already required to wear an ankle monitoring system on her ankle. both were in class yesterday.

mcps thought process- it didn't happen on school property, unless they are charged-and convicted, they are welcome in our schools.

if this was before the strongarm law changed the kid who stole the shoes after beating him up would be facing 15-20 years, now just facing a misdemeanor theft of under $1000 that comes with a small fine.

Suitland is not in the BCC catchment area. I recognize some kids’ parents pay tuition to send their kids from DC to BCC, but in the case where the kid is being permitted to attend BCCand then screws up yet again, he should be removed from the school. Kids understand consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a kid who was expelled once already and back in school who lives in suitland, md and a female who is already required to wear an ankle monitoring system on her ankle. both were in class yesterday.

mcps thought process- it didn't happen on school property, unless they are charged-and convicted, they are welcome in our schools.

if this was before the strongarm law changed the kid who stole the shoes after beating him up would be facing 15-20 years, now just facing a misdemeanor theft of under $1000 that comes with a small fine.

Those laws were put in place to protect Biff who is headed to Harvard but thought it would be fun to steal a street sign and get in a fight at Caddies... so as not to "ruin his life" over 1 night of poor decisions.

I'm all for Biff going to jail personally. I'd also like all the parents who cheat on their taxes and declare bankruptcy in jail but alas they are at Congressional playing golf.

the kid who stole the shoes was expelled previously but let back in. I doubt his parents were playing golf or thinking he was headed to harvard.

Ummm….I think you mean he was suspended. Expulsions are permanent. Yes, we need expulsions. It is a matter of student and community safety at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Mooney sent another community message last night about the two investigations (by MCPS and the police). I thought the second sentence here was interesting:

“I also spoke directly to our students to recognize the impact events like this have on their feelings of personal safety and security, while also ensuring the students that the individuals who made the unacceptable choice to engage in the violence depicted on social media would be held accountable. Those who made the choice to video and post this behavior will also be held accountable as this adds to disruption and inappropriately celebrates violence.”

Without video, of course, it would be easier to sweep under the rug...

MCPS has been embarrassed and is lashing out.

The principal is right. It is truly despicable to record this type of thing and post it on social media. It is meant to humiliate and glorify violence as well as garner views. It has nothing to to with hiding anything. Some people have very twisted minds to think the principal means to hide anything when he states that kids shouldn't be recording this kind of thing and posting it on social media. Really twisted.

Both things are valid. It's awful to record someone's trauma or humiliation for the entertainment of others, but documenting this stuff also brings serious and real problems and crimes to light. So it's a double-edged sword.

I’m guessing that some kids were overwhelmed and knew they couldn’t stop it so started taping. This is what adults seem to do every time something dramatic happens in public. It’s not exactly unusual behavior.

Maybe let’s focus first on the violent kids who were stomping on other kids’ heads.

Seems like BCC never punishes those kids. Is there any update on identifying those kids? Charging them? Kicking them out of BCC?

Until then I can’t take the silly emails coming from the principal.

All this and when will the WJ kids be brought to the same justice.

Drunk, disorderly, fighting… embarrassing

It’s clear to both principals that the WJ kids were attacked. Go back and read their letters. Read the news reports about the racial slurs being changed from the BCC stands at WJ players and fans. I don’t think your both sides theory is going to play out.

Every single solitary news report says it was a fight. Not an assault a fight.

Now how much weight to you wanna give the “news reports”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was also reported by several that the girl in the long braids, sports bra and black leggings/white stripes (video) was following and threatening others who were able to get get away. Her and her sidekick were looking to be violent.

Also, there are a few others where the assault was not caught on video who were more seriously injured than those in the videos that have been shared.

This can't be swept under the rug and criminal charges must be filed!

Do you even hear yourself.

Dp. I saw that girl starting trouble in the stands. If you don't believe any things that's posted here, why are you here?

Different question. Does MCPS normally intervene when a student causes the type of trouble you describe? Would Dr. Mooney have been within his rights to have her removed from the stands and ushered out of the stadium, and / or to call her parents to come pick her up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was also reported by several that the girl in the long braids, sports bra and black leggings/white stripes (video) was following and threatening others who were able to get get away. Her and her sidekick were looking to be violent.

Also, there are a few others where the assault was not caught on video who were more seriously injured than those in the videos that have been shared.

This can't be swept under the rug and criminal charges must be filed!

these kids need to be moved to an alternative school.

they were moved to b-cc -they were not suspended, they were in class yesterday.

I just can’t imagine this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Everything McKnight Says is scripted, edited, double checked not said off the topnof her head and what she said was its on the parents. Passing the buck back onto parents is a symptom of ineffective leadership.

Agreed. If I was McKnight, I'd either suspend future games until the investigation is completed, or move them to Saturday mornings (so as not to punish the many players/kids not involved). That's an easy thing to do, and it would show doing something.

Then, I'd at least do some photo ops showing in-person meetings with the affected school principals, MCPD police chief, and metro transit police chief. Yes, it would be sort of window dressing, but that's a whole lot better than doing nothing.

But of course I don't expect that. Remember the Magruder shooting? It happened in the morning. The press conference (and kids getting let out after lockdown) were in the afternoon. She didn't show up for the press conference as she was 'caught in traffic' but MCPD chief, county exec, and district attorney were all there. What I don't get is why she didn't show up as soon as she heard. Parents were milling about outside the locked-down school and worried about their kids inside. This is the time when a leader shows their face and comforts worried parents.

That would require leadership.

Why suspend the games? Suspend or expel the students who were involved. It’s pretty damn easy to ID the main perpetrators. I don’t understand how Mooney can just welcome these kids back to school like nothing happened. At a minimum they should be separated from the rest of the student body. Help me understand why this is not being done, please.

[Anonymous]

Did I see an older woman in the video just standing there or am I confused?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12 pages of comments and feel the need to provide some actual facts: This was not a brawl, fight, or melee (as media is reporting). This was assault. This was a group of thugs laying in wait for unsuspecting WJ students so they could assault them. Use of thugs meaning violent, aggressive person, especially one who is a criminal. There were multiple assaults on multiple victims and multiple videos posted, not just the one viral group mob. These assaults were not because of the outcome of the football game. This wasn't rowdy WJ and BCC students exchanging words that ended in fist fights. This was groups of thugs, who used the game as a means to assault unsuspecting students while video tapping the assaults and posting them to social media. The assailants were from BCC and possibly some from other locations (but this is not confirmed yet). Some did not even attend the game and some were kicked out of the game (making them more fired up). There were several robberies committed that evening too. There were BCC students also assaulted by these thugs. There were students being chased by them and frantic calls to parents to be picked up. Some of the assailants had ski masks. They caused chaos in a wide urban area that the police (County and Metro) were not prepared for. There are WJ and BCC students who helped one another, tried to protect each other, and continue to reach out and support each other. There are students who ended up at the hospital. There is real student trauma and parent outrage at both schools. The assaults, batteries, robberies, chases, etc. seem random on their choice of victims, but premeditated in the sense the assailants knew they were prepared to cause harm and film it. There has been multiple BCC students suspended. It is still unclear whether, if any, criminal charges can be filed on any of the assailants who are under the age of 18 since Maryland, supposedly, has laws that makes criminal punishment difficult unless murder or rape is involved. I don't know anything about this law so I'm not stating this as fact.

Thank you for posting this. The WJ and BCC kids supporting each other sound like the kids I recognize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12 pages of comments and feel the need to provide some actual facts: This was not a brawl, fight, or melee (as media is reporting). This was assault. This was a group of thugs laying in wait for unsuspecting WJ students so they could assault them. Use of thugs meaning violent, aggressive person, especially one who is a criminal. There were multiple assaults on multiple victims and multiple videos posted, not just the one viral group mob. These assaults were not because of the outcome of the football game. This wasn't rowdy WJ and BCC students exchanging words that ended in fist fights. This was groups of thugs, who used the game as a means to assault unsuspecting students while video tapping the assaults and posting them to social media. The assailants were from BCC and possibly some from other locations (but this is not confirmed yet). Some did not even attend the game and some were kicked out of the game (making them more fired up). There were several robberies committed that evening too. There were BCC students also assaulted by these thugs. There were students being chased by them and frantic calls to parents to be picked up. Some of the assailants had ski masks. They caused chaos in a wide urban area that the police (County and Metro) were not prepared for. There are WJ and BCC students who helped one another, tried to protect each other, and continue to reach out and support each other. There are students who ended up at the hospital. There is real student trauma and parent outrage at both schools. The assaults, batteries, robberies, chases, etc. seem random on their choice of victims, but premeditated in the sense the assailants knew they were prepared to cause harm and film it. There has been multiple BCC students suspended. It is still unclear whether, if any, criminal charges can be filed on any of the assailants who are under the age of 18 since Maryland, supposedly, has laws that makes criminal punishment difficult unless murder or rape is involved. I don't know anything about this law so I'm not stating this as fact.

Thank you for posting this. The WJ and BCC kids supporting each other sound like the kids I recognize.

I was going to come here to say that my child who attends BCC is friends with a gir (also a BCC student)l who was at the Chipotle with friends who attend WJ and was injured in the chaos as she tried to protect her friends. I also attended the game, where overall the students were well behaved and the school had clearly choreographed where everyone was sitting to keep the schools separate. This was pre-meditated acts of violence which included some kids who did not even attend the game but were looking to stir stuff up. It is upsetting and disgusting and I hope that the entire community doesn't pay for the actions of these kids by having games cancelled, moved, etc

[Anonymous]

To no surprise, the latest email from MCPS outlines additional precautions/rules that will impact all students as a result of these thugs.

Ironically, additional precautions AT the game would have done NOTHING to deter what occurred.

individuals identified in these videos need strong consequences!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did I see an older woman in the video just standing there or am I confused?

I'm not sure, but I don't think an old woman would stand a chance in a melee of teens. Her best "weapon" is her phone to call 911.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Mooney sent another community message last night about the two investigations (by MCPS and the police). I thought the second sentence here was interesting:

“I also spoke directly to our students to recognize the impact events like this have on their feelings of personal safety and security, while also ensuring the students that the individuals who made the unacceptable choice to engage in the violence depicted on social media would be held accountable. Those who made the choice to video and post this behavior will also be held accountable as this adds to disruption and inappropriately celebrates violence.”

Without video, of course, it would be easier to sweep under the rug...

MCPS has been embarrassed and is lashing out.

The principal is right. It is truly despicable to record this type of thing and post it on social media. It is meant to humiliate and glorify violence as well as garner views. It has nothing to to with hiding anything. Some people have very twisted minds to think the principal means to hide anything when he states that kids shouldn't be recording this kind of thing and posting it on social media. Really twisted.

Both things are valid. It's awful to record someone's trauma or humiliation for the entertainment of others, but documenting this stuff also brings serious and real problems and crimes to light. So it's a double-edged sword.

I’m guessing that some kids were overwhelmed and knew they couldn’t stop it so started taping. This is what adults seem to do every time something dramatic happens in public. It’s not exactly unusual behavior.

Maybe let’s focus first on the violent kids who were stomping on other kids’ heads.

Seems like BCC never punishes those kids. Is there any update on identifying those kids? Charging them? Kicking them out of BCC?

Until then I can’t take the silly emails coming from the principal.

All this and when will the WJ kids be brought to the same justice.

Drunk, disorderly, fighting… embarrassing

It’s clear to both principals that the WJ kids were attacked. Go back and read their letters. Read the news reports about the racial slurs being changed from the BCC stands at WJ players and fans. I don’t think your both sides theory is going to play out.

Every single solitary news report says it was a fight. Not an assault a fight.

Now how much weight to you wanna give the “news reports”?

“assault” is a legal term. it is what the teens who were seen attacking kids on the video will be charged with. “fight” is a colloquial term.