Letters: Administrator to blame for Spring Valley incident

I fail to understand why everybody expected a different outcome at Spring Valley High School. As Sheriff Leon Lott noted, the student belligerently disobeyed the teacher for attempting to enforce school policy regarding use of cell phones in class. That prompted the teacher to call in the vice principal, who is responsible for student discipline. This is where the system failure occurred.

The vice principal either lacked the skills to perform the disciplinary functions or chose to not perform them, knowing a confrontation with such a belligerent student could escalate into a physical altercation resulting in a career-ending legal action. So the administrator timidly kicked the responsibility can over to Deputy Ben Fields, knowing that would result in a police-style response if the student provoked the deputy. The adult-sized student perpetrator refused to cooperate with a lawful order and chose to assault the deputy, putting him in the unemployment jackpot.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Letters: Administrator to blame for Spring Valley incident."