In the course of just three years, Wenatchee High School students, faculty and administration have been rocked on the waves of two life-altering events. The death of Antonio Reyes brought about not only student grief and community suffering but loud repercussions as well; former PE teacher Ed Knaggs was put on administrative leave in 2011, fired in April 2012, and after two years has only recently reached a settlement putting him on paid administrative leave until 2016. This year a freshman has been charged with three counts of second-degree rape, allegedly occurring on a charter bus during a football trip. The similarities between the aftermath of Antonio’s death and the available details of this upcoming trial have not gone unnoticed.

Just as Knaggs was placed on administrative leave, a WHS football coach has been placed on administrative leave while the situation is investigated, the district has said. Just as extra supervision in the pool area was needed for student safety, so was extra adult supervision necessary on school buses. Just as district policies and a WHS handbook for pool use were not in place, neither were proper procedures nor policies for student to teacher ratios on school buses. Here, The Apple Leaf editorial board sees an inexcusable pattern.

In both cases WHS has, in collective grief, anger, and frustration, looked somewhat misguidedly for a figure to blame. The Wenatchee School District has been playing catch-up in both cases, spending millions to hire investigators, defense attorneys, and paying off settlements, while all along measures could have been taken to prevent these situations from happening in the first place.

The failure of the district to have a lifeguard on duty, despite state law was a dangerous and costly flaunting of the law. And yet, in light of this, it is shocking that the District did not apprehend the necessity of student supervision in all areas, including school and charter buses.

What else can happen in a district that has proven that its policies can be left open-ended? As we move forward with the trial of this freshman, and for that matter into the future, will we again be reacting to the situation and in the end hoping this is the last thing, the final flaw in our policies and procedures?

We urge the District to direct wise eyes and enlightened minds to this new case. As you move forward with the freshman football team and coach, remember Antonio Reyes; remember Knaggs. Take the time and spend the money to comb through the current policies that are in place. Ensure that they are thorough, all-encompassing, and followed throughout the district for the thousands of students that will pass through these halls. With everything that has come to pass over these last three years, which seems like a very small amount of time, we are owed the small comfort that our struggles have not been in vain, but that they have in fact encouraged our community to embrace a more proactive and preventative viewpoint in the hopes that future careers and lives will be saved.