Students

who showed up in black trench coats at Fayette

County High School last Thursday thought they

were being funny, according to Principal Gary

Phillips.

"They

wanted to see what others would say. It caused

some nervousness among the students," he

said, in light of the tragedy last week in

Littleton, Colo., where two boys dressed in black

trench coats gunned down 12 classmates, a teacher

and themselves.

"We

took the coats away and told the students they

couldn't wear them anymore," Phillips said.

"Some kids don't take into consideration how

this has been perceived. We have to keep

constantly reminding them to think about their

actions.

"We

have some other kids who wear them [trench coats]

all the time," added Phillips, commenting on

students who follow the gothic movement, dressing

in black. Those students also were instructed to

leave the coats at home. "It's best under

the circumstances; they need to be a little more

sympathetic," he said.

Phillips

reported that students were raising money to

donate to the United Way campaign in memory of

the slain students at Columbine High School in

Littleton. They are also designing a large

sympathy card to be hand-delivered to the

grieving community by a Fayette County High

student returning to Littleton for a visit.

skit involving water guns during a Spanish class

at Sandy Creek High School last week left some

students and parents in a state of disbelief,

based on a letter to the editor (see Page 4A).

Dr.

Charles Warr, principal at Sandy Creek High, said

that after looking into the reported incident, he

found that a skit involving masked students

wielding water pistols did take place in one of

the school's Spanish classes.

"The

robbers were demanding candy... it took place in

Spanish, in an effort to differentiate the past

tenses," he said.

"At

that time, the teacher had not fully understood

what happened in Colorado," Warr said.

"She later realized it was not the best

thing to do.... It was very unfortunate

timing," Warr said. "She is an

excellent teacher and did this skit in an effort

to have a creative class... this was something we

don't want to happen again. We are very sensitive

to the tragedy in Colorado," Warr said.

School

board Chairman Debbie Condon and vice chairman

Greg Powers said this week that they have had no

feedback from parents in the Fayette County

school district concerned about their children's

safety. But proposed budget items for the coming

year include 40 additional surveillance cameras

on school buses and a photo identification

program for all school employees.

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