http://www.newshounds.us/2007/05/31/boulder_high_school_students_join_forces_to_demand_an_apology_from_bill_oreilly.php#moreBoulder High School Students Join Forces To Demand An Apology From Bill O'Reilly
Reported by Deborah - May 31, 2007
Bill O'Reilly has recently made Boulder, Colorado and Boulder High School the focus of one of his brutal crusades claiming the school forced students to attend a forum encouraging them to have sex and take drugs.On 5/29, I posted about an O'Reilly ambush of three Boulder High School administrators and the next day News Hounds recieved this e-mail from Boulder High School Sophomore, Patrick Garrett.
Dear Newshounds.com staff,
My name is Patrick Garrett. I am a sophomore at Boulder High School, and co-leader of a group of Boulder students working to defend our town and school's reputation from Mr. O'Reillys attacks. Currently, we are working on a petition demanding that Mr. O'Reilly and Fox news apologize for thier comments about our school, its leadership, the district's leadership, as well as the city of Boulder as a whole. We realize is a bit of a long shot, but we feel compelled to do something about our current situation. However, we believe that with the proper amount of attention, our cause may be able to go somewhere. And so I come to why I am contacting you...my fellow students and I were wondering if you might be interested in doing an article about what we are doing. We have the support of several hundred students from both Boulder High, and our rival school, Fairview High. But to have any real creditbility, as the voices of students are often lost among the voices of adults, we need the support of adults and people from outside of Boulder. That's where exposure in the media comes in. We're contacting you because as a media platform that seems sympathetic to our cause, we would appreciate any attention that you could give us. Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear back from you!
Respectfully,
Patrick Garrett
We asked Patrick to share some more information from the student's perspective and we recieved this illuminating response.
Deborah,
Thank you for responding! I would be happy to answer your questions, and I'll provide you with some of the other information.
Details of the Conference: The way Mr. O'Reilly has portrayed the message of the conference is completely false. It is the general opinion of those of us who were there, that the message was not to have sex indiscriminately or to use drugs or alcohol. Rather, the message was something like “If you are going to do those things, then be educated about their consequences, and be responsible”. That being a very different message than the one Mr. O’Reilly was trying to portray. There were some crude comments made, and the information is considered by some to not have been presented in the proper way, but overall, it was in fact what it was supposed to be…an educational experience.
Positive Experience: I myself found it a very positive experience. I learned a lot of new information that probably would not have presented to me in the regular curriculum (which, by the way, is very standard, I have never once been told in my education at Boulder High or at any Boulder Valley School that things like “casual sex” as Mr. O’Reilly put it is good, that Mr. O’Reilly has falsely accused). It’s my belief that the vast majority of students agree with that sentiment. There were a few people who do not consider it appropriate. There is one student, who was extremely brave, and told the panelists that she disagreed with them. The only reason I bring this up, is because after doing so, she was thunderously applauded by the students in the audience, and praised by the panelists themselves. I believe this goes to show the open nature of Boulder High.
Parents Reaction: The true reaction of the parents was varied. There are many parents in support of this conference, but there are also those who are against it. In his two reports, Mr. O’Reilly contradicted himself, saying in the first one (and I’m only able to paraphrase) “I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from the parents showing their outrage over this”, while in his second report he states “It seems the parents of students at Boulder High just don’t care”. That contraction aside, the parents of Boulder High students DO care, that would be obvious. There is a site called BVSDWatch.org, that is following this story. It has some reactions of parents and students on it, if you would like to see some.
Here’s a brief history and explanation of why I, along with the other leaders of our group, created the petition…
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