Dear Teachers, Faculty members, Students, whomever it may concern,

As many of us know or heard, Enochs High School has had an outrageous amount of bullying done at the school, much of it leading to violence, suspension, expulsion, you name it. However, a recent fight that has been drawn to the attention of citizens of Modesto, and has gone through a ripple effect spreading to so many more places, is of course the fight of J and C. (Read more here, if you haven't been informed http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article33748218.html). The student who has been jailed has been bullied for several years and has gone to the school many times to report this (said on twitter) , however nothing was done and resulted in violence. Violence is never the answer to anything, however the schools are NOT doing their jobs in keeping the students safe. The bully's are not getting into enough trouble, you cannot just tell them to "stop, it's not nice" and expect them to obey your orders. A student says "I feel like the staff tend to not want to get involved for several reasons. First off, they probably don't wan to piss off the parents. They also (most likely) don't want to be the one to blame if nothing happens or nothing is resolved. And lastly I believe they just don't think it's very serious so they don't handle it well like they should. They also say there's no hard evidence that the other person is being bullied, when in reality there is and they just ignore it.". The one who is being bullied getting expelled, but the one who is the bully themselves not? That is not right. I understand that any violent act resulting in hospitalization in Modesto City Schools is an automatic recommendation for expulsion, however they should both be punished fairly, if not the bully getting in more trouble. If a student is to report bullying and gone through enough to result in a fight, then something clearly needs to be done. Within an English class at Enochs high school, we had an open discussion, as requested by the principal Mrs.Rowe, about the bullying and how things aren't working right around the school. Several students mentioned how they had also had friends, or even themselves, got into fights because the school didn't do enough once they had reported the bullying. The schools are not taking enough action towards a very large offense.We the students, believe that the conduct code is flawed. If bullying is reported, they should do more than just give a warning. If both the victim and the bully are at fault, for fighting or whatever other reason, both should be punished equally. In the case of J and C, J was unfairly punished compared to C. J was sent to juvenile hall for what is technically considered "self-defense", however C did not get in trouble for "trying to hit J with a car". Yes, violence is not what these girls should've resulted to, for violence is never justified, however when you've gone through everything else, for this it seemed as the only option for someone who had been "enduring bullying for 3 years". On the subject of this fight, the school also began suspending students for voicing out their own opinions on this issue. In this country, we are allowed freedom of speech, so this action was completely unnecessary to the student(s) who were suspended for this action. "Unless there's a threat to the school or another student, there is no business for our school to be reading tweets" (Said by someone to be kept anonymous). This is violating our right to the freedom of speech, as well as upsetting the student(s) being suspended and their parents. 

For a school saying their new motto is "Be safe, Be responsible, Be respectful", this is not how life at school should be. There is a flaw in the conduct code, and the students want this fixed, fairly and equally.

"Kids will disagree, argue, and fight - this is all part of growing up. The problem here is when children are left to be supervised by adults who are clearly cowards. Students will listen to an adult that shows authority and I am sure if there had been one present at the time there would not have been a fight." - Angelique Cooper  (Commenter on Modesto Bee website http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article33748218.html)