Television station vans — and helicopters — swarmed Redmond High School last Friday, but for the wrong reason.
The Redmond community was slapped with some startling, negative news last week when 11 Redmond High School (RHS) students were arrested for using, possessing and distributing illegal drugs after a seven-month long undercover operation.
The most alarming part was that the students were dealing some hardcore drugs: cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy and prescription medications.
It was a huge breaking story and it warranted extensive coverage, no doubt about it.
While the story was startling, it was not that surprising. You would have to be living on Mars to think that illegal drugs are not a problem in schools these days. Redmond Police and the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) have a no-tolerance mission to drugs and they showed that last week.
“In general, parents lamented the need to do something like this but recognized that this is a problem all schools face and were appreciative that we were facing it head-on,” said RHS principal Jane Todd.
But let’s not allow a few sour apples to ruin the tree. RHS is a great asset to this community and residents should not let this alarming incident taint the school’s amazing impact and image.
“This school is a large and positive part of our community and we share in the school’s no-tolerance mission,” said Jim Bove, Redmond Police spokesman. “This in no way reflects the overall student body.”
The impact RHS has on the community cannot be quantified. But you don’t have to look far to find the positivity that pours out of that building atop Education Hill.
Just recently, it was announced RHS had 13 finalists for the National Merit Scholarship Competition, the largest number in the district and among the top in the state. RHS junior Catherine Kelly made history last weekend when she became the first girl from the school to earn a trophy at the Class 4A state wrestling tournament, where she placed fourth. RHS is loaded with all-state symphony players and talented artists. It seems every week, a student from RHS is e-mailing the newspaper to promote his or her community fundraiser or outreach project.
Unfortunately, bad things happen to good people — or places in this instance. We can’t let hasty judgement of this one incident cast a cloud of doubt over this great school. Rather than get caught up in the rumor mill of last week’s RHS drug bust, let’s use that energy to work together, educate the students and prevent this from happening again.
There’s no question the arrested students deserve punishment, but let’s not negatively judge the rest of the student body.
