[momoftwo]

While it's not the national story it used to be, the GBN hazing debacle continues to make headlines in the local community.

So far, every teen charged that has gone through the courts has been given court supervision (of up to a year) and community service (I think as much as 60 hours). The moms haven't had their trials yet.

Rules at the high schools are changing to make it clearer that participating in events like powder puff off campus will result in school consequences. The students at South are compiling a list of families who pledge that any parties at their homes will be drug and alcohol free.

The hazing task force meets, and its not clear how effective that effort will be. The following editorial from the local paper has some good questions, similar to those raised by Delt Alum and others on this thread.


Facts are critical to preventing hazing


The task force commissioned to look into the events leading to the May 4 "powder puff" melee appears to have abandoned its charge.

Initial reports of three subcommittees don't shed any light on how or why more than 100 teens gathered in Chipilly Woods to drink alcohol and beat up junior classmates, injuring five girls and giving Northbrook a black eye around the world.

The reports don't tell us anything about what staff at Glenbrook North High School knew about the event beforehand, or why any student or adult -- parent or GBN employee -- failed to sound an alert that this type of illegal behavior was on some kids' agenda.

They don't explain why local police took about 35 minutes to respond to calls about a ruckus in the woods, or why they didn't know state law assigns local police primary responsibility for law enforcement in local forest preserves.

And they don't provide any clues why several students kept videotaping the brawl, rather than calling police or parents for help, or offering any assistance to semi-conscious or bleeding fellow students.

If the panel doesn't answer these questions, it won't be able to suggest what steps should be taken to ensure this never happens again.

That's the reason the task force was formed, isn't it?

Or was it just supposed to provide enough political haze to let the appalling events of May 4 fade from memory?

The suggestions so far -- make sure kids know the consequences for their actions, develop some sort of code of conduct for adults, administer some sort of local court so such behavior stays out of the justice system -- fail to even acknowledge what really happened.

Over the years, the young people of Northbrook have developed a form of ritualized violence to initiate each other. The hazing ritual was accepted by participants and onlookers. It is rather unusual behavior, isn't it?

Before the Oct. 29 forum, the task force needs to answer these questions. Only then will it be able to formulate specific measures that can be taken to address what went wrong.