Maybe I'm lucky that I don't have children.

Or maybe it's just the school districts that are lucky.

I believe parents should be involved in what goes on in the schools that their children attend, and I think that school administrators are too quick to try and hide the truth from people.

And I'm not talking about Peter Gorman and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools either.

I'm talking about a small and impoverished school district in South Carolina where last week there were food fights, eggings and the threat of Clorox balloons.

And the Marlboro County administration is worried about students having cell phones, because **gasp** they've been calling their parents and the media.

Here's an e-mail I received about the school's response:

We are all working very hard for our children and our community. What people hear from us about the quality of our work becomes reality in terms of public perception. I am writing this note in response to concerns following events at MCHS last Thursday.

Less than 6 eggs were thrown in the morning in the school gym. In the cafeteria at lunch some freshmen threw food. During A lunch, additional lunches were thrown. During B lunch, students were taken to the cafeteria in smaller groups to prevent the food fight scenario from occurring a third time. School ended without incident following B lunch.

We had a good day at MHS yesterday. There were no major incidents. The staff pulled together and provided excellent supervision. All students were searched, and lunches were served in the classrooms. Cell phones were taken as were bottles of lotion, baby oil etc. Text messaging has become a problem among students at the high school. Our intention is to limit the use of cell phones at school.

When I interviewed students I learned that they believe the following:

1. Thursday began as a prank that the seniors were going to play on the freshmen with egg throwing. Freshmen learned of the plan and took action first.

2. The whole incident has been exaggerated by parents and or people in the community.

3. School needs to involve more entertaining activities so that creating chaos will not be so much fun.

This information is provided so that you will know what actually happened.

The hours I have spent at MHS have inspired me. Marlboro County is home to many very polite children who want what is best for themselves and others. They are bright, articulate, and reasonable. They have high expectations of teachers and themselves. Quite frankly, I am proud to be the superintendent of their school system.

Thanks for your continued help and support for all of our schools.

Alisa (Goodman) the superintendent.