"The blood is still on the sidewalk" was the text message that came in right after I dropped my kids off at Central High School in Brooksville this morning. According to this article in today's St.Pete Times. the fight that created the blood pool thatnobody bothered to clean up apparently, was instigated by a student against another student over his status as a true Blood. This is a gang reference to The Bloods a gang based out of Ca. Wikipedia says that Bloods can be identified by the color they wear and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips another major gang based in Ca.

They now, apparently have taken up residence in Hernando County and have accessed our children. How's this happen? How does a child living in Hernando County, FL come to be 18 and still believe that it's a good idea to be in a gang, or to pretend to be in a gang? Does it make them cool? Are we to believe that this is real and these gangs have infiltrated our school system and are recruiting our children? Or are we to believe that our children see this on the media, decide it's the way to go and them emulate the behavior they witness on the internet, television and movies?

Either way, where does it start. What events transpire in a young persons life that lead them down this path?

The article in the St.Pete Times Hernando Section describes the fight as follows, ...Laux threw him onto the sidewalk and kneed him in the head several times and shoved the victim's head into a brick wall.... now go back and read that again, this time though remove the filters that we have developed over the years from watching so much violence in our entertainment. Remember this is a High School Senior we are talking about, one that lives in our community and attends our school system. Parents, remember that your child may be in the same school with this person. ...Laux threw him onto the sidewalk and kneed him in the head several times and shoved the victim's head into a brick wall....

Now, consider this, my daughter goes to that school and her version of the story was that not only did no one bother to clean up the blood pool, the victim was unconscious and laid on the ground where he fell for at least 30 minutes before an adult became involved. Once that happened 911 was called and the victim was taken to Oak Hill Hospital. His current condition is unknown. Apparently this fight happened during second lunch and the victim laid on the ground until the end of third lunch which would translate into more than 30 minutes. She did not witness this personally, this is how the story was relayed to her from her friends that did witness the fight. The time line was set by the lunch periods.

This was a violent attack in what is supposed to be safe zone for our children. The response to the situation was apparently... inadequate also.

So what now? Obviously this person should never be allowed to step foot into a Hernando County school again. Also this person should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

But what about the school? An alleged 30 minute response time to a violent situation that left a blood pool on the sidewalk of one of our schools, that nobody even bothered to clean up. There should be some explanation or accounting for this from the Hernando County school system or the Hernando County School Board forth coming as far as I am concerned.

We, as a society, put a lot of responsibility on our school systems and it's employee's. In fact, we probably expect too much of them and pay them too little for what we want them to do. But, the basic core function of our school system is to keep our children safe. Yesterday, at Central High School that didn't happen.