Superintendent Suzanne Lukas should not be chastised for using her authority at the Bonny Eagle graduation. If she is criticized, it should be for not acting soon enough.

Ms. Lukas reported that the school board had created a code of conduct following disruptions at the 2005 graduation ceremony and, in fact, the students were required to execute a written agreement prohibiting improper dress, props, grandstanding and showboating. I was repulsed to read about the beach-ball-tossing students disrupting the ceremony, especially during the addresses by their valedictorian and salutatorian, student achievers distinguished by the district but disrespected by their peers. It was only after this and other vocal disruptions per the chronicle of this and other newspapers, pictures, and a video, that Ms. Lukas ordered a student off the stage. I viewed the video of this young man and he certainly appeared to be grandstanding and showboating.

This newspaper’s editor, Brendan Moran, charged in his last editorial that Lukas singled out this student, and so what if she did? He acted-out, Lukas had had enough, and this student was wrong and in the wrong place and at the wrong time. That’s life. It surely appeared to me that the disorderly students disavowed their written promise, and therefore they, not Superintendent Lukas, should be held accountable for their behavior unless of course they aspire to become politicians.

Last week’s edition featured an article by your former editor, John Balentine, who compared Lukas’ exercise of her authority to the Iranian Islamic suppression of its people and subsequently portrayed Lukas’ action as heavy-handed. I suggest on the other hand that Mr. Balentine, by use of his simile, was the heavy hander. Balentine goes on in an attempt to justify the disruptive behavior – because beach balls are part of most graduation ceremonies, because kids will be kids and because graduation is no more than a celebration – and in doing so swiftly second-rated the Bonny Eagle school system. I wonder whether the valedictorian and salutatorian agree with him.

Yes, indeed, school graduation is a time for celebration, but it is much more than a celebration. It is a time for reflection, attention, pride and, at the high school level, some display of maturity. It is not a time for raucous displays that can be reserved for the graduation parties.

Also last week this newspaper reported that at an ensuing school board meeting some in attendance hoped for an apology from Superintendent Lukas for disrupting the graduation ceremony and that some parents believe that consequent to her disruption she could not lead the school district into the future and should resign. Many will recognize this upended logic as the perpetrator to victim makeover we see so often depicted in our criminal justice and political systems. Clearly, it was not Ms. Lukas who was the disrupter. Furthermore, if capitulation to bullies and abdication of authority is the form of leadership SAD 6 parents are seeking, then indeed the future of SAD 6 is rickety at best and Ms. Lukas should indeed consider moving on to a healthier and brighter environment.

The quality of public education in the United States ranks below the mean among the 30 most wealthy countries and until parents predominately support their children’s teachers and administrators that fact won’t improve.

I don’t know Superintendent Lukas, but I wish her well.

Cal Cutter is a resident of Gray.