It was a riot, not a pie fight, and guard was breaking it up

Could we please stop calling last week's cafeteria insurrection in a Norfolk middle school a "food fight"?

Food fights - distasteful as they are - involve the throwing of edibles. Rolls, for instance. French fries. Fish sticks.

When brats launch chairs at each other, they're rioting. And the PTA president at Lafayette-Winona, where the fracas took place, told The Pilot that "chairs and everything were being thrown."

Frankly, if that's true and the ruffians escape with nothing more than a snoutful of pepper spray, they got off easy.

Such disruptive behavior ought to be chased by expulsions and perhaps even criminal charges. Against the kids, that is, not the security guard.

Then again, I'm old-school. I think well-behaved youngsters - students, in other words - ought to be able to eat a sandwich in the school cafeteria without risking a concussion. Or soiled clothing. No public school pupil should tremble at the thought of entering the lunchroom.

Yet, for the second time in a week, students in Norfolk middle schools have unleashed mayhem in their cafeterias that ended with pepper spray. The most recent was a lunchtime fistfight that broke out at Blair Middle School on Monday. The earlier incident, at Layfayette-Winona, happened Oct. 18. In both cases, school security guards used spray to stop the melee and subdue the apparent instigators.

The guards are uniformed school employees, not police officers.

In the aftermath, there seems to be a lot of second-guessing about whether the guards overreacted.

Get a load of the letter Lafayette-Winona parents received on Oct. 19 from the school principal:

Dear Lafayette-Winona Middle School Families,

Yesterday during your child's lunch period, one of our school security officers determined that it was necessary to use pepper spray to end a food fight. Children who were in the vicinity of the incident, or any who complained of physical symptoms, were examined by the school nurse. We contacted their parents.

Please be assured that Norfolk Public Schools has specific policy and procedures regarding the use of pepper spray by our school security officers, and all officers are thoroughly trained. I am working in partnership with the Norfolk Public Schools Department of Pupil Personnel Services to determine whether yesterday's use of the pepper spray met our policy and procedures. If we find that the protocols were not followed, appropriate steps will be taken to ensure that it does not happen again...

Sincerely,

Tracey Flemings

Principal

Notice one glaring omission? The letter lacks any expression of concern about the so-called "food fight" that precipitated the use of the spray. The entire focus of the principal's attention is on possible wrongdoing by the security guard.

Sheesh.

We still don't know exactly what happened in these two schools. Until there's evidence that Norfolk school employees have developed a sudden sadistic streak that causes them to blast students with pepper spray at the slightest provocation, I'm on their side.

Despite their comic portrayal in films, food fights, which can quickly escalate into full-blown brawls, are serious disciplinary matters. They're also - dare I say it - immoral. In a world where millions are starving to death, the thought of American kids throwing food at each other is repugnant.

At the very least, the kids at Lafayette-Winona who engaged in what may have started as a food fight ought to get a good look at our local hunger problem with a field trip to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia or a visit to a local soup kitchen.

If they could manage to behave themselves, that is.

Kerry Dougherty, (757) 446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net