Didnt the projo report on this early this morning..?....and a coworker of mine said she heard it on the news last night.....

Patch did exactly what any news agency is intendended to do- found news and reported on it. Kudos to Patch for doing some investigative work. The reluctance of school officials to update parents and provide extra security is a disservice to students and parents. Ms. Thies' cattiness toward the news service shows her embarassment that Patch beat her to the punch. I'm sure the injured student wouldn't agree that this was "more than it really was". Did she just downplay school violence? Hmm...

patch keep up the good work i like to know whats going on in my kids school

I would like to chime in on this article also and reiterate that down playing a situation like this is by all means WRONG!!!! As I had stated on the other article pertaining to this situation seeing adolescents everday attempt to take their lives due to bullying is nothing to down play. Please handle this situation with all seriousness!!!!

Why is Mrs. Theis desensationalizing it? Why if it were her child would there be more of a concern?Why are not all fights reported in the police reports? The fact is that the hs is getting worse. This situation could've been worse. What if he died? She stated that the school is orderly and staff is walking around. Where were staff when this incident occurred? When most fights occur? She states the hs monitors facebook. If that were true this may not have occurred as alot of this would've been seen. I personally spoke two hours with Mrs. Theis about violence in the hs last year. She seemed to have really liked what I had to say and that she would look into my recommendations. None of which have been implemented. My problem is not with the child who did strike. Kids will sometimes do the unthinkable even when raised in the best of environments. Although I do have a problem with what's being done to help in preventing them. Teachers should be mandated to be in the halls between classes. There should be a peer mediation group. There should be a 100 percent ENFORCED rule of no cell phones. (cell phones give them constant access to feed into this kind of stuff during their school day). I'm really surprised an entire year later nothing has changed.

The Patch had nothing to do with the escalation of this matter. It was all over facebook before the kids even got out of school. I'm thankful the to the Patch for writing a story about this since the administration clearly had no desire to alert parents of the fight, the ridiculous number of suspension and the rumor of a shooting today...It would have been nice to hear it from the administration instead of through Facebook or text messaging. Thank you Patch. You did the right thing.

My son called me from the bus to tell me that he was coming home with blood stains on his clothes...yes...my 14 year old son got to take the bus ride home from school with blood from another student on him from trying to help the injured student from coughing on his own blood....sensationalized ???....no...I don't think so...happens all the time ???....no...I don't think so.....

Becky the lack of response is not surprising...I last year asked the question as to why there is a registered sex offender living a block away from one of the Bristol Elementry Schools and received no response!!!!

My thanks go out to the Patch and to Sara Bagwell. The journalistic approach to all articles that appear on the Bristol Warren Patch is to be commended. Bringing to light a situation that has our children's best interest and safety to the attention of the community is a much more intelligent approach than the one apparently endorsed by the superintendent..."if we don't admit it, then it isn't happening in our schools" Thank you to Sara for bringing this to our attention, and to the Bristol Police Department for instilling a sense of security to our children attending the high school following this incident. Now, as a community we must demand that our schools do better to keep our children safe. It is easy to say we are great, if we continue to hide and deny our weaknesses.

Knowing firsthand what happened at the high school, this was not an act of bullying. The student that was injured was punched ONE TIME and came at the other student first. The so called "victim" pushed the student more than once before he was hit. The student that hit the other student walked away at first. It wasn't until he was threatened and the other student removed his backpack and came at him that he hit him. It was one punch the injuries were from the kid falling and hitting his face on the ground. He was not beaten. This was not a case of bullying. Everyone needs to know the facts before jumping to conclusions.

Well, if the guidance office keeps records of children going to them about having issues and being threatened it would show that this was an act of bullying...I also know some things "firsthand" as you phrase it.

MHHS eeds to re-institute in school sspension. By suspending these thugs who terrorize classes and create undue stress in the school environment, the adnimistration is pandering to their wants. It is obvious that theses rotten apples do not want to be in school; perhaps stricter discipline, as well as mandatory in-school suspension would make these juveniles think twice before they cause a fight. In addition to the in school suspension, perhaps adding detention as well to the punishment would make these thugs think twice about their actions. By givng them a vacation so that they can hang out with their friends only contributes to the situation. I commend Patch for unbiased reporting, keep up the good work by keeping us informed. MHHS administration, you seriously should revisit your disciplinary policies and procedures.

Maybe the way they looked spooked some children. But I know and have interacted with some of these kids. They aren't "thugs" and shouldn't be labeled as such.Some are very respectful and polite. Society assumes because people dress different than the norm or isn't the average kid that they are all delinquents and nothing good will come from them. Did any of you think that they could be from broken homes worse than the average broken home? Maybe some have no family at all. As most of you know, teenagers tend to blow things way out of proportion and FB and such escalate any situation. Also commenting on such matters in a foul light is also considered bullying. Try teaching your kids how to accept people for who they are not how they dress or what they like.There will always be people different from each other but who are we to judge them. I think the school also did their best handling the situation but teenagers are going to run with this and more rumors and or problems will arise and they should keep a watch on ALL kids not just a select few.

I'm not saying that these kids haven't/aren't being bullied. I'm saying that THIS situtaion was not an act of bullying. This is a separate issue. And this had nothing to do with this group that is calling themselves juggalos. This had to do with an individual student.

This school system refuses to recognize that parents have a right to know every detail of their children's lives in and out of school. This is why they didn't inform us so they could just brush this issue under the rug as usual. I am very disappointed in Mrs. Thies for having the nerve to try to down play this situation!!!! Thank you Patch for keeping me informed!!!

And I guess it was real enough to be the top story on turnto10.com......never downplay violence!!!!!

Mrs Thies should resign. An investigation should be opened immediately into the procedure that was taken by staff, including and not limted to the Principal, Dean, and everyone who had knowledge of the bullying and failed to address it. If it is true that these students asked for help and were not taken seriously, well then I hope those teachers and faculty are questioned on the actions that they took to prevent the violence that occurred, and the obvious hatred that exists.
To downplay this story, and to blame a media outlet for shining a light on a major issue should be grounds for termination. I hope patch follows up on this story and makes sure questions are answered. Was it a hate crime?

The majority of parents of children at Mt. Hope believe exactly that GuardingBristol...thank you for posting that!!

To the patch, media, and children that got home to tell their parents of what happened or did not know what happened always know to go to a safe adult for protection police parent someone very trusted if threatened or bullied and do not go by rumors. If you hear rumors share with trusted person. To Mrs Thies to say something so foolish the patch caused all of the tension there. Give this beautiful town a break. Keep it out of media Why? This is how things escalate. You have a child that was assaulted and brought to the hospital. Others are saying so many other stories. Police in this town intelligent they should be there until they get to the bottom of it. Anxiety of children I bet especially when our supertintendent wants it hush hush!! Blame media. Taxpayers pay for children to learn!! Half of them look a mess pants down underwear showing, smoking across the street minors, etc They are teenagers they are not the bosses the school is the law is not them. To all for religious or customs their entire whole different thing. But if the copy catters want to attend school with all on their face, and they can go to the clown schools.Girls use to be sent to ladies room to wipe their faces down if they their makeup was piled on like a clown and if refused parents called if they did nothing juneville officer called. I think better get back to that. People cannot afford to live never mind paying so many taxes for teenagers not following dress codes. the boy attacked i hope he is ok.