Out-of-control water balloon fight prompts dialogue at Sonoma Valley High School

Weeks after a water balloon fight got out of hand at Sonoma Valley High School, with students pulling a fire alarm and the principal calling in law enforcement, students and school administration say the incident ended up prompting a dialogue about larger issues on campus.

“We are actually glad it happened,” said Rodrigo Rico, senior class president. “It improved communication a lot.”

Principal Kathleen Hawing agreed good things have ultimately come from that day.

“While we never wanted that to happen in the way it did, it gave us an opportunity to learn and move forward,” she said.

About a week after the fight, leadership students met with school and district officials to talk about a number of simmering issues at the nearly 1,300-student school.

Perhaps students’ greatest concern was a perceived lack of counselors to help those dealing with depression and seeking guidance as they prepare for college.

“In high school, there are all these mental health issues,” Rico said. “Students feel depressed but there just aren’t enough counselors for them to talk to.”

Currently, the school has four counselors but they don’t all work full time, said Nikarre Redcoff, director of special education for the district. District staff is currently seeing if money for mental health programming could be used to add more counseling services at the school.

The May 1 water fight began simply as a senior class prank and not as any form of protest, Rico said. But the resulting melee and administrators’ response ultimately unearthed student concerns that had been under the surface all year, he said.

Students began tossing water balloons in the campus parking lot at lunchtime but the fight quickly grew to include people slinging water from buckets along with food, Sonoma Valley Unified School District officials said at the time. Deputies were called when a student began smoking marijuana, they said.

Responding to what they perceived as safety concerns, school officials decided to end lunch early. But not all students understood why they were being asked to return to class, Rico said.

It highlighted what many students perceived as a communication breakdown with the school administration, Rico said.

“We just want to understand why things happen,” he said.

Redcoff acknowledged students’ concerns and said miscommunication was bound to occur at a school of Sonoma Valley’s size.

“The school is as interested in (good communication) as the students are,” she said. Rico said the meeting itself was a great step forward in that regard.

“The administration was really open” to our requests, he said.

Hawing said she thinks one thing the school can do better is let students know which services, like clubs, special programs and direct counseling, are available to them.

“Everyone is pretty much on the same page,” Redcoff said. “The administration wants kids to be safe and connected to the school and to succeed academically. Kids want that as well, but they also want to understand why decisions are made. It’s a reminder that kids still want to talk to us. And we still want to listen.”

Staff Writer Jamie Hansen blogs about education at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach her at 521-5205 or jamie.hansen@pressdemocrat.com.