By BECKY CRISSMAN

becky.crissman@gaflnews.com



CORDELE — School officials here are taking measures to control a number of rumors that have circulated following Tuesday’s election.

The Cordele Dispatch has received several calls from people questioning rumors of riots, guns and fights in the schools.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Crisp County School Superintendent Dr. Judy Bean said citizens can rest assured that there are no such problems in the school system.

“Our students are behaving and conducting themselves properly,” said Bean. “There have been some words and typical mouthing, but nothing has escalated to violence.”

Bean said that the rumors have come from text messages some students have been sending out, possibly in an attempt to get parents to take them out of school. The system, she said, has been looking into the text messaging situation. When the guilty parties are discovered, there will be consequences, she indicated.

“All of our schools have cell phone policies forbidding their use during school,” said Bean. “However, if a student is caught involved in texting rumors, especially those of a threatening nature, he or she will be punished according to the severity of his or her comments.

“We are being guarded and handling comments immediately, but we are having our best school year yet overall,” the superintendent said.

Bean said that students are still allowed to wear their political attire whether they are Obama or McCain supporters as long as the messages are not offensive to others and no foul language is printed on them.

Crisp County High School Principal Toriano Gilbert agreed, “Students may continue to wear T-shirts to express their political views as long as they do not disturb the flow of education because that is what is important.

“A formal dress code has always been in place to let the students know what is and is not acceptable. Clothing of an offensive nature, or anything promoting violence, drugs or sex is and always has been prohibited,” the principal added.

Gilbert said that he too had heard numerous rumors about possible violence at CCHS.

“The worst of the rumors came on election day,” said Gilbert. “I actually received a call from the superintendent of Pulaski County Schools wanting to know if we had really shut down schools due to riots in Crisp County.

“Parents in Pulaski County were getting ready to remove their kids from school. It was unbelievable.

“There have been no riots, no fights and definitely no weapons of any type on the CCHS campus. We have policies in place where cell phones are concerned. Phones are to be in the students’ lockers or vehicles during school hours.

“If someone is caught in violation of our cell phone policy their phone will be taken away,” said Gilbert. “If it is necessary, messages can be checked and anyone involved in any rumors or threats in those messages will be punished. We certainly do not take threats lightly, however, I do not think we have anything to worry about.”

Gilbert said that CCHS students have behaved exceptionally well throughout the days before, during and since the election.

“They have been told not to rub the election results in each other’s faces just because one person’s candidate won and the other did not,” said Gilbert. “We have chosen to use the election as an educational experience for our young people because many have questions about the election process.

“We want the students to convey their school pride because, no matter what, we are all Cougars.”