<p>i do not want to imagine there is some crazy person stalking boarding school kids but it is worse to think this may have come from a classmate.</p>
<p>nhfootballer-- Its way worse to imagine it coming from a teacher. But thats doubtful.</p>
<p>I really think it will turn out to be internal....SPS is fairly rural....not that close to downtown Concord.</p>
<p>Please don't rush to judgement. It is offensive to assume, without proof, that you may know "what type" of student would send death threats to peers. The Loomis incident was a hoax. If you Google "fake death threats," and "hate crime hoax," you will find many examples of people threatening themselves, especially at high schools and universities.</p>
<p>I suspect that whoever sent the letters through the mail is either young, or very unsophisticated. Sending death threats through the US mail is a very serious matter. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Whoever, with intent to extort from any person any money or other thing of value, deposits or causes to be delivered, as aforesaid, any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of the addressee or of another, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.<a href="see%20%5Burl=http://www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect/usc18/blackm.htm%5DBlackmail%20&%20Threatening%20Communications%5B/url%5D">/quote</a></p>
<p>Remember, the sentence could be given per letter, so x23 (or more). </p>
<p>Does anyone know if the "internal face book" is electronic or a printed document?</p>
<p>...................</p>
<p>cricket2324 wrote:
[quote]
This whole ordeal is disgusting but unavoidable. When you group a load of wealthy, caucasian, east coast, diversity-deprived, immature teenagers with 40-45 african americans then this is bound to happen once in a while.
I live in Fairfield County, CT and in my uber wealthy community the population reports 99.22% white and .78% other. Ponder that for a second or two. Imagine the backgrounds that these children must have come from and the thoughts drilled into them by parents that would cause this to happen.
Its not surprising.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Is she suggesting that children from wealthy, predominantly white neighborhoods are raised to think it is okay to make racist death threats? I find this way of thinking disturbing and hope she did not really mean it. </p>
<p>If it is true that the notes said "bang bang get out", as reported in the NY Times, it is a very serious matter and it is only right that the FBI and local police are involved in the investigation. I don't understand how it would be a self-staged hoax when 23 or more students received similar letters. Regardless of whether someone intends to carry out the threat or not, it is a very hateful crime and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.</p>
<p>I feel very concerned for the St. Paul's community and pray for a quick resolution. As always, I have the highest regard for St. Paul's and great respect for the way the community is handling this crisis. Hockeykid841, thanks for sharing and starting this thread. I can assure you that it would not affect our decision if S is lucky enough to be accepted by your fine school.</p>
<p>lexima is right that people should not change their view of sps because of this. exeter and loomis have both faced similar problems recently. sps, exeter and loomis are the schools that we know about. how many other schools have this happen but it stays quiet? no one really knows. this can happen anywhere in the counrty.</p>
<p>racism is the saddest part of america. it has been here since the country began but i appreciate the usa no less because of it. we just need to work together and help realize our potential. obama running for president shows the progress our country is making.</p>
<p>it is funny how two people mentioned praying for sps. my parents do not go to church a lot but they mentioned how they are praying for sps and especially the students that were hurt by this.</p>
<p>nhfootballer, if all teens thought like you, the future of the world would be bright. I hope you find the school where you can prepare to lead your generation!:)</p>
<p>This is a terrible, I feel for these teenagers, but also for their parents, who have sent their children away to school. I cannot imagine the fear they must be feeling. With the NIU shooting having just happened, as a parent you worry every time you send your child out the door. Knowing people who have gone to SPS, I am fairly confident that the community is gathering around and giving these students and families support and comfort.
I have to address cricketts statement:
"This whole ordeal is disgusting but unavoidable. When you group a load of wealthy, caucasian, east coast, diversity-deprived, immature teenagers with 40-45 african americans then this is bound to happen once in a while.
I live in Fairfield County, CT and in my uber wealthy community the population reports 99.22% white and .78% other. Ponder that for a second or two. Imagine the backgrounds that these children must have come from and the thoughts drilled into them by parents that would cause this to happen.
Its not surprising."
The assumptions you make are appalling! The first is that SPS is loaded with "wealthy, caucasian, east coast, diversity-deprived, immature teenagers" How do you come to that conclusion? Do you have the financial backgrounds of the students attending SPS? It is my understanding that the student population is fairly diverse and that they have students from many parts of the country and that by offering financial aid, they have been able to attract many students who come from all financial situations.
Also,are you saying that if you come from a community that is not diverse that you will not be able to accept others that are not like you?
And finally, are you saying that parents if they reside in, how did you put it..."uber wealthy" communities, are unable to raise their children to respect others who come from different backgrounds ? Because thankfully, I have not found this to be true, sure, you will have rich snotty kids, but you know what, you can have snotty poor kids too! And luckily I have found you do not have to be raised in a diverse community to grow up to appreciate diversity.
And let's not forget that you are assuming in this statement that these letters came from inside the SPS community, and I don't believe that there has been any proof to support that yet.</p>
<p>Again, disturbing but no one can jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts. I will remain reserved and quietly steam, awaiting the outcome of the investigation. Truth is always stranger than fiction.</p>
<p>I think D'yer captured it best, it's the school's response that is the most important to focus on. OPS said not to jump to conclusions- absolutely right. Let's not assume we have all the facts to assign blame and at the same time let's not jump on someone for offering an opinion. I don't think crickett meant any harm- she doesn't deserve the third degree.</p>
<p>Lexima--
After making my 1st statement saying that this is disgusting, horrid, and wrong why would I go on to condone it? I'm giving the source of which the abuse probably came (in my opinion).</p>
<p>ChaCha--
Why dont you take a couple seconds to chill down. No posting while enraged.
I mean exactly what I said. Although I'm sure the students in SPS are top notch, I AM saying that they are immature. All high schoolers are idiots and I support that generalization. We're only children and we make rash descicions and bad mistakes. Also, I am not saying that all people who arn't exposed to diversity cant appreciate it. I'm saying that they are not used to the sudden immersion when they get sent to boarding school. Stop putting words in my mouth.</p>
<p>Please back off. Both of you. My intentions were not to cause a scene but to show how the actions of these children were unfortunate but predictable.</p>
<p>I was just looking at the BSR stats (I know these are not precise, but I assume they are in the vicinity of the actual numbers?) I was surprised at two things about SPS 1) the high percentage of students of color (35%) which I believe is very high for bs and 2)the low percentage of students receiving fa (34%). It does seem there are quite a few well-off students attending.
I am not using these numbers to back up any belief that money/whiteness leads to racism. I was just surprised by these numbers.
Crickett's observation was just that, her thoughts on the matter. We are all entitled to ideas and to discuss them in a civil manner. Isn't that why so many of us think the Harkness method is such a great idea? Please don't jump on her for a thought she had. There are kinder ways to let someone know you don't share their opinion.</p>
<p>I did look at SPS' website, where they give a more comprehensive breakdown of the statistics: </p>
<p>Percentage of minority students and international students:
34% students of color (14% Asian/Asian-American,
8% African/African-American, 6% Latino/Hispanic, 2% Native American
4% multiracial); 17% international</p>
<p>**Cost to attend:<a href="tuition,%20fees,%20and%20room%20and%20board%20in%202006-07">/B</a>
$37,250, fees $800 (estimated additional fees 2,800)</p>
<p>**Percentage of students who receive financial awards: **35%,
average award $28,720, number of awards 182, total financial
aid approximately $5.6 million</p>
<p>Number of current students from New Hampshire: **61
**Number of current students from New England: 190
(including NH) 325</p>
<p>I think that is fewer receiving fa than most of the well-known schools, isn't it?</p>
<p>Just did a quick FA search on bsr:</p>
<p>NMH 44%
Exeter 43%
Andover 41%
Deerfield 38%
Hotchkiss 34%
Middlesex 31%
Choate 27%</p>
<p>Are hate mail, slurs, painted doors, etc. really productive in 2008? I mean, c'mon this rarely even happens in the small southern cities not far from me anymore. What have kids been tought if it is the students who have done this, or is it outsiders who typically come on private campuses and deface them to make the schools look bad? Surely we have advanced as a society to the point this this stuff is absurd even among high schoolers. In the words of Rodney King, 'Can't we all just get along?'.</p>
<p>i totally agree, racism is so stupid it makes me want to throw things at walls. it makes absolutely no sense, yet so many wars an deaths have come out of it. i really hope they find out who did it.</p>
<p>I believe, in the Exeter case, it was one of the "victims" who perpetrated the crime.</p>
<p>I will lay odds that this is a student or some "loner" and not anyone connected with a hate group, even informally. They know better than to use U.S. Mail. The one law enforcement agency that you don't want on your trail is a U.S. Postal Inspector. Using the mail was a serious mistake. It literally makes this a federal case.</p>
<p>As nhfootballer noted earlier, this sort of thing is the work of cowards. No matter who did it, it's ultimately an act of cowardice, like all terrorism. But cowardice -- and ignorance for that matter -- don't necessarily mean stupid. There are crafty cowards and stupid cowards and, with this being sent via U.S. Mail, it bears the hallmark of "stupid coward."</p>
<p>It's one thing if it was the Concord Police and maybe the New Hampshire B.I. digging into this. But now a U.S. Postal Inspector -- a government agent that makes CIA waterboarders pale by comparison in terms of vigilant tracking of criminal perpetrators -- is getting a long-awaited phone call, walking into a phone booth for a costume change, and launching into action. Hate groups don't have Membership Manuals -- at least the crafty ones don't -- but if they did, Rule No. 1 would be, don't do anything that comes under the jurisdiction of a U.S. Postal Inspector.</p>
<p>Sending a message like this through the U.S. Mail is like a Klansman not wearing a hood. Or a militiaman setting off flares near his mountain hideaway. It's just so incredibly boneheaded. Ted Kaczynski -- a loner -- used the U.S. Mail and evaded capture until he made the blunder of having his manifesto published, but he had the system figured out and there aren't many people in this country who are both as screwed up and as shrewd as Ted Kazcynski. Since this person seems to score pretty high on the screwed up end of the equation, I'm not betting that he or she will score too high on the shrewd end.</p>
<p>If I were the person who sent these letters tonight and I heard helicopters this evening or even if the crickets stopped chirping suddenly...I'd consider it fair warning that there's about 2-3 minutes of freedom to enjoy for the foreseeable future.</p>