Cinco Ranch High School Controversies

<embed> <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> _uacct = "UA-38898916-1"; urchinTracker(); </script> </embed> Cinco Ranch High School has had numerous controversies despite its short lifespan. It currently participates in the district-wide blocking of Wikipedia.

Controversial events

Homophobia: The 2001-2002 yearbook, "Panorama" had a theme of "Firsts", as this was the year of the first graduation in the school's history. To fit this theme, students in English classes were invited to share "firsts" in their lives, in the form of written essays to be placed in the yearbook. One such essay was one written by a male homosexual student about his experience of “coming out” for the first time. This particular essay sparked outrage in the Cinco Ranch High School community as parents as well as faculty members took up arms about this display of sexual orientation. Amidst many other technical errors overlooked by the publishing company of the yearbook, the publisher agreed to reprint some 1,800 copies. The reprint included corrections to technical errors, as well as the removal (and some would argue censorship) of many student-written stories, particularly the controversial "coming-out" story.

Sex: During the 2003-2004 school year, a pair of students were turned in because they were having sexual intercourse in a stair well. This was widely reported in the media, especially concerning the students' status as freshmen and the fact that the male student was sent to an alternative school, whereas the girl was not. This incident even caused many teachers to "stand guard" at stair wells around the school afterwards.

Drug Testing: During the 2004-2005 school year Katy ISD began a new and revolutionary program in the history of the district, with the use of random drug testing for all individuals involved in UIL competitive organizations, student leaders of any official school clubs, and anyone wishing to park on campus. This caused much controversy prior to its instatement. Many parents complained to the school district, citing the new policy as the violation of individual rights, and that the school district had no right to pry so much into the lives of its students. The district responded to this by having every student who wished to participate in the said activities sign a waiver granting the school district to test them randomly. Others raised concerns about how random the drug tests would be and though this continued to be a debate up until its incorporation Katy ISD made the news as one of the first districts to implement the policy. This matter had already been settled by the Supreme Court of the United States as constitutional before KISD chose to implement it.

The Gator Gazette and The Cinco Enquirer: During the 2004-2005 school year, a secret newspaper was distributed amongst the students, usually leaving stacks in bathrooms. The paper contained articles of a humorous and criticizing nature, poking fun at different groups, such as the administration and the security guards around the school. Eventually, the authors were caught and punished with Saturday detention. The name comes from Principal Bonnie Brasic, who on her first day as principal, slipped on the announcements and said "Go Gators!" (the schools mascot is the Cougar, while her former school's was known as the Gators). This became a joke around the school, which Mrs. Brasic embraced. It is also noteworthy that censorship was achieved in this matter successfully not by prohibiting student publications (which would likely not be lawful) but by prohibiting their distribution on campus, citing it as a distraction from the school day. This rule has been similarly employed to stop the production and wearing of shirts by students which criticized the administration, as they were being sold and distributed at school. The newspaper continued its publication in the 2006-2007 year, with the first issue being on 6 October 2006. The newspaper commonly accepts guest writers as well.

Recently, a paper known as The Cinco Enquirer released printed issues throughout the school, serving as "the NEW GAZETTE until the Gator returns," to "tell it like it is," in reference to the controversies within the school walls and administration. This form of student paper, however, is much more blunt, harsh and slanderous than the original Gator, using foul language, printing images of the Columbine attacks, in reference to the shooting scare (see below), and referencing "fornicating with Rosie O'Donnell." Unlike the original paper, The Enquirer's purpose is to reveal the "Lies of Cinco" and personally attack students in reference to The McCardle incident, in which several students claimed Mr. Thomas McCardle had made sexual comments and inapproriately touched several female students. McCardle was placed on two week probation until he was eventually proven innocent, yet didn't return to Cinco Ranch, as the Enquirer says, "because he was a subject of sexual harassment and even though he was proven innocent, he would've been suspect to further investigation and misconception." Due to the personal attack of student Jaquelyn Bradford, a rebuttal was published and distributed by Jaquelyn, where she attempted to defend herself and her friends, defining the term "whore", which was used in reference to her and her "gang" in the original issue. The following day, The Enquirer's secret writers printed a second rebuttal, using edited images from fans of Jacquelyn and a quoted e-mail, allegedly from Jacquelyn, which contained death threats, foul language and a threat to address Mr. McCardle's fiancee about what Jacquelyn had done to McCardle. In the future it will serve as the School's newspaper and will further the truths that are kept from the student body. Visit the website at [8]

The "Peeping Tom": During the 2005-2006 school year, a football coach and special education teacher, Tim Williford, was caught in a local neighborhood zoned to the school looking into the bedroom of a female CRHS junior. Upon seeing him she alerted her father, who took down his license plate number as he calmly left the scene, still dressed in his football coaching uniform. He was later arrested on trespassing and a "peeping tom" charge, both misdemeanors. The story achieved widespread local, and even some national news coverage.

Child Pornography: During the 2005-2006 school year a Cinco Ranch chemistry teacher, Denzial Ray Tittle, was indicted on June 8 on one count of possessing child pornography. Tittle resigned March 10 for personal reasons. Prosecutors said Tittle's computer contained more than 600 images of children. If found guilty, Tittle could face a sentence ranging from 5 to 20 years in prison plus a $250,000 fine.

School Shooting Panic: During the spring semester of the 2006-2007 school year, a Cinco Ranch student spray painted the words "Doom is coming" on the grass within school bounds following the Virginia Tech massacre. The student threatened to "bring Columbine to Katy" on May 1. Similar events preceded this at Katy High School and across the nation with imitators trying to be the next Cho Seung-Hui. With extra security deployed throughout the building by the faculty, no crisis took place. Supposedly the culprit was caught, but no real proof of this exists yet.

Other controversies

"The Best High School In America": The official slogan of the school during the 2003-2004 school year, was the "Best High School in America"; critics of the motto have questioned the assertion of "best". Empirical data provided by newsweek in 2005 concluded Cinco Ranch was in fact the 472nd best high school in America. It has been suggested by some that this motto was intended to be motivating and not taken in a literal sense. In the Spring of 2004, Lowell Strike received his Doctorate and became the "Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction" at Northwest ISD. After his departure he was replaced by Bonnie Brasic, formerly of Mayde Creek Junior High School. She chose not to continue this tradition but the phrase is still in common usage, particularly from older staff members. "Shining the Light onto the Future" replaced the old motto in 2005. Posters displaying the new slogan were placed in almost every classroom of the building and included an acronym for the word future. "Best High School in America" was resurrected for the 2006 yearbook when the journalism department added the phrase on the top of the outside cover.

Socioeconomic Disparity: Cinco Ranch HS is located in the center of an expansive, master planned suburban community of the same name, which has been heavily developed since the 1980s. Parents are overwhelmingly of a upper-middle and lower-upper class status, with uniformly high incomes less characteristic of surrounding areas which feed into Katy High School or the older, more urban areas feeding into Mayde Creek. As a result, the majority of students attending school here are of the middle class and higher, with less than 2% falling below the poverty line. Students from other KISD high schools often refer to CRHS as the "rich" school, though the newly-opened Seven Lakes High School will probably earn this title as well.

Ethnic Clubs: It is notable that the school undertook steps to remove the minority heritage club from the list of registered clubs, of which the President was Caucasian. He felt he was himself a minority as he suffered from learning disabilities (although, notably, they also eliminated the Majority Heritage Club, which was formed as a club that allowed anyone in as a response to the discrimination of people not in the minority). The administration also stopped the formation of the Communist Club.

External links

• Katy Zero Tolerance
• Conservative organization active in Cinco Ranch area, concerned with school district impropriety