An Open Letter to the Current Students of Bolton High School:
Dear Students,
It’s been a week since I first posted a series of questions about your school, and during that time, we’ve heard from past and present teachers, principals, alumni, parents, concerned citizens, and a number of your classmates. Many of you have been concerned about the direction this forum has taken. You’re rightfully worried that people will believe the lies told about some of your best teachers, and you’ve admirably come to their defense. It’s important that faculty in-fighting doesn’t distract us from getting the questions answered and finding solutions to the problems. Bolton students should be commended for understanding this.
A few of you seem a little bewildered by the point of all of this discussion. One of you wondered why I would care about the plight of Bolton, considering I am a graduate of ASH. One of you asked for my address so you could find me and beat me up. (Again, it’s 1000 Bolton Avenue, the big building with all of the cop cars in the parking lot). And one of you subscribed me to a litany of listserves. (Thank God for Gmail’s spam blocker). I certainly understand why you’re upset, but try to see the bigger picture: Discussions such as these, despite all of the bruises, are essential to finding solutions.
Let’s redirect the conversation. Let’s focus on what can be done. Let’s think about things that can be done, right now, to unify the school.
Work with the alumni association and other concerned citizens and parents to build a coalition of support. I also think it’s important for current students to petition recent graduates, ask them about their experiences, and what they think Bolton can do to turn things around.
Like it or not, there are many people, some of whom have worked at Bolton for several years, who believe that without the proper leadership and political support, Bolton may have to shut its doors. Permanently. When you lose students, you lose money, resources, and teachers, and without those things, Bolton may become a shell of its former self (something many people believe has already happened).
No doubt, it’s not easy to remove yourselves from the daily experience of school and understand this issue in a greater context, but if you care about the survival of your school, you’d realize that no one is personally attacking you students. If anything, the concern people feel toward Bolton is because they care deeply about its students.
Bolton’s probably not as bad as its most vocal critics make it out to be, but that doesn’t mean it’s healthy. The issues raised in this forum should demonstrate that there are a great number of people who are worried.
One final note: One of your fellow classmates accused me of being a “bad moderator.” He believes that I should have shut down this conversation because, in his estimation, it became repetitive and redundant. I strongly disagree with his assessment. I never “lock” threads or prohibit people from contributing to a discussion, even when someone else has already made a similar point. You should understand, however, that even when people decide to post anonymously, they can still be held accountable for their words, and I caution all of you to choose your words wisely. (Incidentally, this same issue has come up in another conversation on another blog. Many of us in Alexandria are just now getting into the blogosphere, and some people make the mistake of believing that the Internet is a lawless new frontier. It’s not. Libel is a real issue).
I sincerely thank all of you for contributing. Hopefully, in the near future, this won’t be a conversation relegated to an Internet blog.
All the best,
Lamar
CenLamar 
Lamar,
You seemed to have missed a key point. John Sams destroyed Penny Toney. He did not destroy Bolton High School. What some people want you to believe is that without Ms. Toney , Bolton is lost forever. These are the people that hurt for her because she is gone and feel she was treated badly. She certainly was.
However. Bolton is not any one person and never will be. It is decades of tradition,the blood, sweat, and tears of thousands of students and faculty members. Bolton will still be there when they are building a fourth Peabody and a third Pineville and Tioga.
A true Bear will:
WIN HONOR – WIN FAME
not wrestle in the muck of a blog
No, John Sams destroyed Bolton by removing Penny Toney, ordering the transfers of many of its best teachers, cutting enrollment by agreeing to a stupid deseg compromise, and ruling with an iron fist.
Lamar , in response to your question about what needs to be done to turn Bolton around— If Bolton were to turn around then it would be going backwards and that would allow the other schools in the parish to catch up to our academic excellence. If you are as concerned as you say you are about Bolton’s well being, then I dont think you would want this fine institution to implement any wholesale changes that would keep it from meeting the needs of it’s
students and faculty.
WIN HONOR–WIN FAME
C’mon, that’s the stupid school rivalry stuff Lamar was talking about. No one means Bolton should LITERALLY be turned around, and no one is saying it needs to implement wholesale changes. Get real.
WIN HONOR- WATCH FAME, THE MOVIE.
Lamar,
See what I was talking about. The hatred comsumes some people.
Someone who promotes themselves as a true Bear would never make that statement at anonymous 5:02, only a pretender who showed their loyalty to a friend above all else.
Removing Penny Toney alone did not ruin Bolton. But by replacing her with an ineffective leader who allows power hungry and/or lazy teachers to get away with murder, it will be detrimental to Bolton. It’s the beginning of a decline. It’s already happening, kids.
I hope that, despite the terrible and (more often than not) true things that have been brought up on this blog will not prevent you from having a fruitful and positive experience in high school. There are plenty of good teachers at Bolton that care deeply for each of you. Focus on that.
Anon 5:18,
So, you’re saying a true bear should just shut up and go down with the ship?
I disagree. A true bear wants the truth to be told and for those that caused it to take responsibility for their actions. A true bear wants to SAVE Bolton, not sit there singing the alma mater and roasting marshmallows when the whole place goes up in flames (metaphorically).
I know that in my post I said that I would not be on this blog again, but I feel compelled to do so for the children I love, so many of whom have written to me and contacted me during this time.
While I had to remove myself from the topic of Bolton, I in no way can distance myself from the people I love there. The thing I loved most about Bolton was its culture, the people that came to it from all walks of life, all searching for meaning and direction. I felt that we, in that school, offered students a safe place where they could grow as individuals and as scholars. As an English teacher, my greatest moments in the classroom came in the forum of open discussion about a piece of literature, in which students from diverse ethnicities, social classes, philosophies and religions would deconstruct a text based upon their own experiences, vulnerabilities, and desires and construct a personal meaning. From these discussions, discovery came, belief crystallized, and insight grew. Those moments, to me, are the best of what Bolton offers: those moments of epiphany, where all who try can “see to see,” and they do so as a community, all engaged in the same purpose. There were so many of them at Bolton, and they made the school a special place.
I will always cherish the time I spent at Bolton. I became a teacher there, a real one, willing to risk, willing to lose, all in the hope that, somehow, we could all find that for which we search. Realize this, students: you are what make Bolton, “Bolton.” Forums such as this, where you can seek answers and find solutions are really not any different from what we did in class. We hold up a concept and look at it from many directions because we dare to make it real and to make it beautiful and to make it have meaning. And somewhere along the way, “learning” happens.
Don’t bash Lamar for trying to do this. Embrace his desire to seek truth and solutions, and go forth in finding your own.
The best to each of you,
Ms. Self
A true bear? A sloth of true bears surround you, battered and bruised, bears who carry Bolton in their hearts, but look at that fine old school and don’t see much that is honorable or true. Those left who want to save Bolton are mute, afraid that what has happened to the vocal fighters will happen to them. All of you at the fire may be roasting marshmellows and singing beer, beer but real bears have moved on to win honor and fame. Had there been enough real bears who gave a growl, the likes of John Sams would never have gotten away with the destruction of Bolton. Don’t go on about true bears. And you be careful; you are standing closer to the fire than you know.
I was totally keeping up with the conversation until these bear metaphors got so out of control. It reminds me of that Russian lady in the Christopher Moore book, “Dirty Job.” Everything is “like bear.”
Lamar – I hear ms. branch is suing you for libel. better shut it down.
Who is Ms. Branch? Never heard of her.
Teh interweb is serious business.
Legally speaking Mrs. Branch doesn’t really have a case for any kind of lawsuit but it is kind odd to me that everyone is complaining about the Branch/Monroe duo… I could go on and on like some seem to do about this subject but I am just going to say this. Only 8 seniors that I know of have Monroe so why do I hear so many people complaining? Most everyone who doesn’t like Monroe is angry because she will not hand a student an A like all of our teachers have done before. I doubt I will ever get an A in that class and honestly I don’t want one. English is far from being my best subject so I don’t think it is fair that I receive the grade for something I did not earn. So what? Your 4.0 went down the drain. Who really gives a damn? I can think of so many worse things then having an English teacher that teaches her subject so well that every year she adds numerous students to her wall of 30+s on the ACT or 4s or better on the AP test. Let her do what she wants! She has been their longer than any other teacher!
Lamar you should shut this down. This is doing no good. It is just hurting Bolton teachers, students, and principal. This blog was a good idea, but it has gotten out of hands.
NO! DON’T SHUT DOWN THIS SITE! There are so many Bolton students who, because of people like Sams and Higgins, do not know anything about what is happening to Bolton. This website shows everyone for what they are and reveals what going on to, not just the school, but the city thats undercover. Most of my friends had no idea when or why Mrs. Self left and such. BOLTON STUDENTS NEED TO STAND UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT INSTEAD OF WHAT THEY’RE BEING TOLD!
And Mrs. Self, you may not read this, and thats OK. I was never one of your students but you know me and I know you and there are those of us who miss you so dearly that it kills us everyday to walk by Mrs. Campbell’s room and not see you in there. We all love you, and hope you’re doing well.
As a Bolton Alumni who now lives out of state, I had no idea of the current situation. Thank you for this blog. I was also unaware that Ms. Tony and Ms. Self were no longer there. In losing them, the school has lost two of its finest educators. I feel privileged to have been under the instruction on Ms. Monroe and Ms. Self during my years at Bolton and am shocked by the slanderous comments made against them. The Bolton I remember was highly focused on the academic excellence of its students. My graduating class of 1999 produced several Attorneys, Teachers, Engineers (myself included), etc. My only hope is that the future classes are equally successful and strive for higher education. I am concerned however, that under the current circumstances they may lack the necessary tools to do so.