Paul Kreutzer: "Everybody's from Eisenhower"

UPDATE, February 24, 2010: Stancl gets 15 years in prison in Facebook coercion case
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UPDATE, December 22, 2009: Anthony Stancl - GUILTY, 2 counts sexual assault
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Last Friday, there were freshman, junior varsity, and varsity basketball games between New Berlin Eisenhower High School and Pewaukee High School.

With New Berlin Eisenhower still reeling from the Anthony Stancl Facebook blackmail/ sexual assualt case, it was a nice gesture for New Berlin School Superintendent Paul Kreutzer to offer a free ticket to the varsity basketball game for anyone wearing Ike's school colors, purple and gold.

New Berlin -- In a show of solidarity, New Berlin School Superintendent Paul Kreutzer is offering to pay the varsity basketball game ticket fees tonight for anyone who comes to the game wearing purple and gold - the colors of New Berlin Eisenhower Middle/High School.

...Kreutzer said he would be at Pewaukee tonight to pay for anyone who showed up supporting Eisenhower in purple and gold gear, whether that person was a student at Eisenhower or another school, or resident or a parent.

In light of a recent Facebook sex scandal that has rocked the district and community, Kreutzer said he wanted to find a way to nudge the people into coming together as a community and supporting the high school.

"I want to show that we're all together on this," Kreutzer said. "Tonight, everybody's from Eisenhower."

It may have helped students and parents from Eisenhower to wear the school colors and see others from the larger community wearing the colors as well. It's always nice to show support for each other. Whenever faced with a difficult situation, it helps to come together.

Although the scandal is shocking and it does impact the entire Eisenhower community, the people involved in the scandal are a relative few. Those involved are responsible for their behavior. What Anthony Stancl is alleged to have done and what his victims did doesn't reflect on the entire student population or all the people of New Berlin.

I think it's important to remember that this wasn't an accident or a natural disaster that befell the school. No superpower imposed its will on Eisenhower. This was a crime, allegedly. A former student, Anthony Stancl, was involved in criminal behavior, allegedly.

Stancl's victims, dozens of them, were duped into sending nude photos of themselves to Stancl. Although they gave him the photos under false pretenses, they did take and then share some very intimate photos of themselves.

There was a lot of bad and there was a lot of stupid that was going on among some of Eisenhower's students.

While the Eisenhower community does need to deal with the scandal, helping each other through this troubling time, I don't think Kreutzer's statement makes sense.

He says, "I want to show that we're all together on this. Tonight, everybody's from Eisenhower."

Well, no.

Obviously, everybody's not from Eisenhower.

This isn't the Cold War with John Kennedy standing before the citizens of West Berlin and pledging U.S. solidarity with them. This isn't the same as the fight for freedom against Soviet oppression.

In terms of the scandal, everyone isn't a sex offender and everyone isn't convinced by a predator to freely send off nude photos of themselves.

It's not a situation where it could happen to anyone.

Allegedly, you had a manipulative pervert soliciting online and dozens were clueless and careless enough to get caught in his trap to varying degrees.

But everybody's not like that.

Eisenhower is much more than the scandal. All the positive aspects of the school and the positive qualities of its students should be reinforced. That's good.

But to suggest that somehow everyone shares in the mess at Eisenhower is wrong. They don't.

To suggest that everyone is equally susceptible to becoming a victim in an online sex blackmail scheme isn't true. They aren't.
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February 11, 2009, New York Times: Sex Predator Accusations Shake a Wisconsin Town