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Suspected pipe bombers ask to do senior projects

By Lynn Hotaling
Hoping to head off a walkout or other protest by their classmates, four suspended high school seniors have volunteered to complete a major school requirement.

The students were removed from campus for their alleged role in December pipe-bomb detonations at the new Scotts Creek school construction site.

Other seniors, angry and frustrated over the fact that the suspended seniors would not have to complete a senior project, have apparently been planning some sort of demonstration to protest school officials' decision.

In a March 8 letter sent to Smoky Mountain High School Principal Ken Henke, the four seniors - Josh Haddock, Jennifer Parker, P.T. Parker and Travis Shepherd - asked that they be allowed to do the same rigorous projects required of their classmates.

The four, all now completing graduation requirements at Southwestern Community College, learned of the planned student protest through contact with friends still at SMHS, P.T. Parker said. They were also aware of controversy concerning the waiving of senior project requirements when school officials determined the seniors would not complete the school year on the SMHS campus.

Principal Henke and school board Chairman Martha Queen both confirmed rumors of a planned protest by members of the senior class.

Because of the unique status of these four and a fifth senior, Matt Breedlove (who satisfied the senior project requirement during the fall semester), approval by the Jackson County Board of Education will be required before the suspended students can proceed with plans for their projects.

That approval is expected today (Thursday) during an 11:30 a.m. special meeting, said board Chairman Queen.

"We anticipate no problem with approving what the high school and students have agreed to do," Queen said Tuesday (March 14).

The school board leader appeared pleased the four will go ahead with the projects. "I think it's wonderful," Queen said. "I'm real pleased - I really thought they would want to be a part (of senior projects)."

Principal Henke's reaction to the request was positive as well.

"They want to be part of the student body," he said. "Hopefully, this will be a healing process." The offer by Haddock, Jennifer Parker, P.T. Parker and Shepherd is "very admirable," Henke said. "I think they're trying to help Smoky Mountain High. It's an unfortunate situation, and we're trying to work it out in the best interests of all our students."

SMHS is in the process of finalizing details that will allow the four to complete their projects, said senior project coordinator and English teacher Alice Pendergast. At this time it appears that she will be the supervising teacher for the suspended students.

Allowing Haddock, Jennifer Parker, P.T. Parker and Shepherd to complete their senior projects is fine with him, said Superintendent Frank Burrell. He intends to back Principal Henke's recommendation that the four be allowed to do their projects, he said. He will present an educational plan for the suspended students - one that includes senior projects - for the board's approval at today's meeting.

Burrell did not comment when asked if the four would be allowed to present their oral reports on the SMHS campus with their classmates. Final details as to how projects will proceed are not in place yet, he said.

According to a Jan. 5 letter received by P.T. Parker, SMHS recommended early admission to college for him and specifically waived the senior project requirement if it had not already been completed. Breedlove, Haddock, Jennifer Parker and Shepherd all received similar letters, he said.

Despite the fact that students who are granted early admission to college generally do not have to complete the senior project requirement, P.T. Parker said the four wanted to make the effort.

"We, as students of Smoky Mountain High School, do not wish to feel that we have put any less work into completing our senior year than any of the rest of our classmates. We want to know that our SMHS diplomas represent the same amount of effort expected from anyone else in the senior class," reads the letter the four sent to Henke.

Breedlove, Haddock, Jennifer Parker, P.T. Parker and Shepherd were indicted March 6 on felony charges including possession of weapons of mass destruction and possession of weapons on school property.

North Carolina statutes require that students who bring weapons onto school property be suspended for the remainder of the school year; however, the law does permit school boards to make alternate arrangements to allow such students to continue with their educations.

The five bombing suspects will receive diplomas but will not be allowed to attend graduation exercises. Senior projects, currently in only their second year as a requirement of senior English at SMHS, have proven to be controversial. What was perceived as an attempt to circumvent the process last May resulted in a protest by then Principal Kenny Nicholson and the presence of some 100 SMHS students and teachers at a called school board meeting.

That incident involved a regularly-enrolled student who failed to complete project requirements on time.

When it appeared that school board members would make an exception for that student and hear the project, Nicholson walked out of school. Apparently under the impression that the principal had resigned, seniors threatened to remain in their seats at graduation if Nicholson wasn't there to hand them their diplomas.

Board members upheld the school's decision and graduation proceeded without incident.

The three-part senior project, designed around a topic of particular interest to the student, includes a research paper, time spent with a community mentor and an oral presentation before an evaluation committee.

A smaller controversy developed in December over a student's project and plagiarism. Though that appeal was heard in closed session, it was apparent during January's regular school board session that plagiarism was the issue.

The December closed session discussion led to the development of a school system plagiarism policy presented in January and approved last month.

The new policy is to be implemented at schools countywide and will begin with fourth grade.

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