Principal Hoyt,

I read, with as much objectivity as I could, your article in the opinions section of your school paper. I in fact read it twice because I was struck by several issues you bring up but don’t seem to understand. You mention with great vigor how you love the school, and speak of your investment in teaching and coaching there. This is the first part that puzzles me. You seem to be very disappointed that your sports teams captains did not garner the same reaction that the “entertainment” section of your pep rally did. It seems to really aggravate you. I understand your long history with MHS athletics, I understand you are also the parent of a former MHS athlete and in these capacities I understand your (well earned) bias towards MHS athletics and MHS athletes. What I do not understand is how, as the school’s Principal, you seem to be oblivious to the fact that the majority of your students are not involved nor have an interest in athletics. It would be akin to someone taking offence that you were not as enthralled with the musings of a KSU Anthropology professor as you are with Bill Snyder’s. It is a real shame that you don’t seem to consider the majority of your students. Homecoming is the ONE event that can encompass the entirety of your student body, and include the less athletically gifted, and raise the morale of EVERY student, not just your athletes.

The second issue I can’t grasp is how you mention, repeatedly, that 98 percent is great, yet you choose to focus three quarters of your opinion on the 2 percent you cannot tolerate. You had the opportunity to express your thoughts on what is good and right yet chose to focus primarily on what some have done (in your eyes) wrong. And it is that 2 percent that brings me to my next, most troubling issue:

You say the powderpuff cheerleaders were basically so vulgar that you will ban the practice forever. Number one, that is, of course, your prerogative, but secondly your puritan attitude to what amounted to 3 seconds of their performance (which they worked incredibly hard at) is at best, ridiculously hypocritical! How is what you refer to as “butt rubbing” any more offensive than the music that plays for a half hour during pregame football warm ups EVERY HOME GAME? This music is one long profanity laced, misogynistic, violence glorifying rap concert. I am there every game and it is a bit of a running joke among parents and even the visiting journalists how you and Mr. Marsh are completely oblivious to the F-bombs, B-Words, N-Words, and drug references. This tends to make your “offense” at a 3 second dance performance comical and capricious.

Third, I’m not sure you really pay much attention to the student section at your sporting events. If you did you could not possibly be so “deflated.” This student body does turn out in force for sporting events. They travel well, in fact, I guarantee there were more MHS students at several away football games than there were home team fans. This student body gets behind the teams, but your comments, so carelessly thrown into the school paper will undoubtedly lead many to question why they bother. That is sad, it’s a shame and it is an unfortunate choice of words and attitude on your part.

Hopefully you will consider not reacting so harshly in the future, and have some consideration for the larger portion of your student body that also “loves” their school but are not as personally invested in athletics as you are. I also hope, for the future students and families of MHS, that you make a concerted effort to understand your student body demographics and act in their best interest rather than the knee jerk reaction you seemed to take.

Proud MHS Parent,

William J Gold