Ponderosa High School (Parker, Colorado) - Student Death

Student Death

In October 2007, Ponderosa student Jake McCarty guided his Nissan Maxima into a traffic signal pole. The police found him dead at the crash site, where the car was completely flipped. After McCarty's death, his friends and family felt angry that the principal did not address the issue in a respectful manner by holding a school-wide moment of silence for him. Additionally, the principal addressed that getting the whole school involved would perhaps be overkill, seeing as out of a student body of over 1,200, all did not actually know Jake personally, and bringing the grief to those who were not affiliated with him was deemed unnecessary. Additionally, the school administration did not feel that holding a moment of silence was the best way to remember McCarty. Controversy also stemmed from wide spread rumors that school officials had prohibited teachers from acknowledging Jake's death in their classes. Students widely regarded the administration's "business as usual" approach as disrespectful to Jake and his family. After attention was brought to this issue by the school newspaper, The Mustang Express, as well as the McCarty family, local news agencies were involved and placed pressure on administration officials to rectify their misconduct (the paper also dispelled the administration's claim that all memorial services in all forms must be approved by the district, proving that this was entirely false). Following this, several school organizations, although the student council had no part in organizing a remembrance, initiated their own means of honoring McCarty, and they were not prevented from doing so by the administration in their efforts.