Wellesley High student weighs in on wild night football game

A Wellesley High School senior who is managing editor for The Bradford, the school newspaper, shares her thoughts on what has turned out to be the nonstop conversation about a night football game in town last month — and not for what happened on the field.

The student writes in part: “The happenings raised many moral dilemmas for students, parents, and the school’s administration…. It seems as though students are torn. Some are disappointed in themselves and their peers, while others wonder why the administration didn’t properly inform them of the repercussions or take strides to ensure that students didn’t have accessibility to bad decisions. At the same time, the faculty ponders how students could’ve conducted themselves so badly and represented their school with such distaste. All sides of the argument are being spoken for, and it seems as though everyone has an opinion.”

One idea discussed, she writes, is to have more night football games to make the events less of a big deal — and perhaps less likely to spark unruly behavior. “In my opinion, this idea is too optimistic,” she writes.

A number of intoxicated students were asked to leave the game and have since been suspended from school or lost other school privileges. The Wellesley Police Department was even prompted to issue a press release titled: Facts and Rumors: Friday Night Football Game. The antics took place despite efforts by school officials to emphasize under-control behavior (no noisemakers were allowed at game, students were warned they needed to keep their shirts on and wouldn’t be allowed to show up in just body paint).

Meanwhile, WHS football looks to get in the winning column with a home game this Friday at 3pm vs. Milton.