Number participating in 'egg war' dropped to 50 Palo Alto Schools & Kids, posted by Editor, Palo Alto Online, on Nov 2, 2009 at 10:50 am
Only about 50 Palo Alto High School students -- far fewer than initial reports from stuents of 100 to 200 -- were involved in an egg fight last week that littered Gunn High School's sports facilities with yolks and shells, according to Paly Principal Jacquie McEvoy.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, November 2, 2009, 9:55 AM
Posted by leslei, a member of the Gunn High School community, on Nov 2, 2009 at 10:50 am
maybe the kids shouldn't be involved in cleaning up gunn but they definitely should put in a good number of community service hours such as picking up garbage along the highway.
maybe then they will think twice about defacing property.
Posted by amazing, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I was curious so I went to Gunn today and I have personally seen all of the mess that is on the campus and still on the fields, even a week later. I must say that those students really are overachievers. The fact that fifty kids could throw (and carry) that many eggs is really unbelievable. There were over fifty eggs thrown on the brand new track alone (that will never come off). Amazing how fifty kids handled all those eggs and covered so much ground!! So, do we figure 25 Seniors and 25 Juniors? Not a great turnout for a long time tradition.
Posted by paly student, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2009 at 3:40 pm
now the administration is thinking about using asb funds to pay for the clean up. this is ridiculous- i am a student at paly and even i think the students should be suspended and personally pay. using gunn and participating was stupid.
according to a girl who was talking about the egg wars at paly and participated there were definitely more than 50 people- so i don't know WHERE the administration is getting their stats.
Posted by joe, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2009 at 8:09 pm
So i was there, and there was definitely more like 200. This is mccecoys way of admitting how ridiculous it would be to punish everyone, much less anyone. She knows she is in the wrong and her job would be in jeopardy if 200 parents were coming up to the schools front desk. [Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
Posted by paly senior, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Nov 2, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Wow. I totally agree with Joe. There were at least 100 students there. Oh, and for the quote from the gunn parent: that's total bs. I have AT LEAST 50 or so gunn friends, and they a) didn't care b)thought it was funny and c) did not relate it to the suicides at all. They all joked that they were going to "egg us back" and such. The parents are just being whiny.
Oh, and as for the number of eggs: you can buy 5 dozen eggs for a little less than ten dollars at most grocery stores.
Posted by A Noun Ea Mus, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Nov 3, 2009 at 12:32 am
Might I suggest a new project for both schools. 4H clubs and both have Ostrich Farms.
Bicycle Helmets and goggles, ostrich egg fights sanctioned by Stanford, the Stanford Marching Band to officiate, bleechers for the parents, bunkers,....paintball style. Something Mark Twain would have written about if he were alive today.
Posted by Nora Charles, a resident of Stanford, on Nov 3, 2009 at 1:45 am
Why did the students choose to hold their cherished and charming "tradition" at another school? Not a clever move, by so many supposedly clever students. And such sensitive timing to boot. How proud you all must feel--parents too.
What a waste of food. And I guess I am overly optimistic to hope they were cage free?
Posted by jack, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Nov 3, 2009 at 2:18 pm
paly senior wrote: "Oh, and as for the number of eggs: you can buy 5 dozen eggs for a little less than ten dollars at most grocery stores."
I'm imagining your point is that it didn't cost much, and therefore, well, no big deal?
If so, I guess I'd be more impressed if this $10 came from the throwers' own pocket...after they've satisfied mortgage, food, taxes, and subsequent clean-up fee.
I don't get this. What's so fun about wasting food? It's probably more fun if you don't have enough of it. IIn that vein, I would like to see people throw balled-up dollar bills. Less ambitious: throw coins at each other!!
Posted by A Noun Ea Mus, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Nov 3, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Gee maybe someone could suggest a PhD project based on the Paly traditional Senior/Junior egg fight.
The economics of the egg fight through the years. The impact of recessionary pressure on egg fight economics. The decreased propensity for egg throwing by high school participants as they age and take on professional careers,mortgages, children,... Paintball, is it merely high tech egg wars? The impact of early childhood development on the propensity for engaging in Egg Fights (the Three Stooges vs. The Power Rangers).
Maybe if the subject is studied in depth enough Jack will be able to get it.
Posted by D, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 3, 2009 at 7:34 pm
To "Joe" and "Paly Senior",
Tell your classmates that there better be no complaining when the price of tickets for all of your Senior events goes way up!! Just remember that the class funds were used for egg wars!!!
Posted by palo alto people always overreact to everything, a member of the Gunn High School community, on Nov 3, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I thought it was funny and I was a little pissed off. Of course the Paly kids should face some sort of punishment for this but the Paly administration isn't doing the right thing. What the heck does suspension achieve? If anything, I think a group suspension would be fun since all your friends are suspended too and you can all get in a car and drive around and not go to school.
Just make the Paly kids do community service and let them do some fundraisers to pay off the $ instead of taking them from their budget. If it was 50 kids (which it apparently wasn't) then I would feel that it is really unfair for the other 400 or so kids in each class that have to have a shitty prom or whatever because of these kids and as a parent I would be pretty mad as well.
Posted by another amazing palo alto resident, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Nov 4, 2009 at 8:14 am
Messing others' property is so insensitive and irresponsible. Worse, I heard that students who were initially suspended brought in lawyers, and that resulted in less suspension. Is it true? If so, what kind of kids are we raising? Kids who think they can get away if they know how to gun the system?
Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Nov 4, 2009 at 8:16 am
I think its more like 50 kids we could indentify...
BTW the kids who were suspended were allowed to make up any work they missed, so none of their grades were impacted. So they got a couple days off with friends, a comment on their record (which can easily be explained and although it was a stupid prank, I can't imagine any college admissions officers not letting a kid in because of it) and on top of that, they have a great story to share and lots of attention from their peers.
Posted by A Noun Ea Mus, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Nov 4, 2009 at 9:09 am
" <SNIP>... I heard that students who were initially suspended brought in lawyers, and that resulted in less suspension. Is it true? If so, what kind of kids are we raising? Kids who think they can get away if they know how to gun the system?"
Just as in medicine doctors have to practice a bit of defensive medicine (every headache in ER gets a CT scan) it is a sad fact that PAUSD administrators have to practice "defensive discipline". In this case balancing the shrill cries of "criminals" and "animals" on one hand with the kids showing up with attorneys on the other (not sure if true, but would be very surprised if at least one kid didn't show up with an attorney mom and dad!).
"what kind of kids are we raising". I kind of maybe suspect the parents hired the attorney---not the kid.
Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 4, 2009 at 9:39 am
This is very sad. Gunn finally gets nice looking fields and then students in the community damage them. It's community damage by community students. Sounds like community service would be an appropriate response.
Posted by Gary Gechlik, a resident of the Palo Alto Hills neighborhood, on Nov 4, 2009 at 11:11 am
This seems to be a relatively harmless event. These are just pranksters. The city needs to focus on larger issues when they have depressed students committing suicide. The bottom line is that kids need an outlet. If you get too excited about harmless issues like an egg fight it just leads to worse behavior down the line.
An egg fight is not the stepping stone to other drugs like pot. We live in a state that will now allow kids to smoke pot in the name of knee pain with no consequence but get upset over an egg fight. That's just too bad because the Chinese are going to crush our economy in the short run if we continue the extreme liberal values of punishing all harmless pranks like felonies.
Posted by A Noun Ea Mus, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Nov 4, 2009 at 1:55 pm
"extreme liberal values of punishing all harmless pranks like felonies." ???
Gary I really don't think this issue is inherently "liberal" vs. conservative per se.
I mean Sharon and I seem to have somewhat the same position. Which is a bit like King George and Ho Chi Minh agreeing on some issue. To some degree it may be that Paly parents (conservative or liberal) tend to not see it as a big a deal as Gunn parents. For my part one of my kids participated in the egg fight in the past and had a great time. The kids participating in this are the same ones that work on the float, play sports and cheer, run for school office, etc. I don't think the yearly egg fight ritual was a Goth thing or anything. On the flip side the lack of embrace led to suppression attempt led to migration and then to Gunn. The Paly/Gunn rivalry then goes into play. And real damage was done, though I think it's being blown a bit out of proportion. But to be totally honest I can't say that if I were a Gunn parent I wouldn't feel at least an iota a bit the other way.
I agree with virtually everything else you said, but are you sure that "an egg today isn't a joint tomorrow"? :)
And whether or not our economy is crushed...I can't see it being directly related to whether or not we punish all harmless pranks like felonies. Maybe indirectly on down the line as the very spirit which kills all things fun and risky migrates into other areas and we get Stepford Kids.
Gotta get up and move around, my knee is bothering me....where did I put that......
Posted by Gunn Student, a member of the Gunn High School community, on Nov 5, 2009 at 1:27 am
I don't understand how the parents are being too "whiny," they're just trying to understand/help. Also, being apart of Gunn student government, not ONE student was pleased with what happened in ASB. I get that it's a "tradition" and that it wasn't intended to offend Gunn itself, but I just don't understand how the majority of Paly students don't think it was a poor act amidst everything the whole community is going through.
Posted by student, a member of the Gunn High School community, on Nov 5, 2009 at 1:31 am
i agree, honestly.. if you don't go to gunn, how can you assume that it wasn't offensive to us? i just think we should be a little more thoughtful and careful next time..
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