Education

Take Note

April 17, 1996 1 min read
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On Location

Call it “A Nightmare on Mendocino Avenue.”

That’s where Santa Rosa (Calif.) High School sits. The school’s picturesque 71-year-old campus in Northern California has been used in a number of Hollywood movies, including “Peggy Sue Got Married.”

School officials recently gave producers of a new horror-film spoof called “Scary Movie” approval to film at the school. The movie is to star Drew Barrymore and Courtney Cox and is being directed by Wes Craven, known for such blood-curdling offerings as “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “The Last House on the Left.”

But when some in Santa Rosa got wind of the script for “Scary Movie,” they started having nightmares of their own.

The script reportedly calls for a heavy dose of blood and gore, not to mention a foul-mouthed principal.

The producers said that the goriest scenes would be filmed on a sound stage, not at the school, and that the school wouldn’t be identified as Santa Rosa High in the movie.

The school board was to decide this week whether the filming of “Scary Movie"--scheduled to begin just days after the April 16 board meeting--would be allowed.

Between Friends

Minor school disputes used to be handled in the principal’s office. That was then.

This is now: A New Hampshire high school sophomore has sought a court protective order from alleged harassment by several of her former friends.

The Keene (N.H.) High School student, Michelle Blue, said in her lawsuit in Cheshire County Superior Court that five girls had intimidated and threatened her.

The five girls have countersued, seeking their own order.

Richard Larcom, the principal, said the girls’ disagreements were not violent or especially atypical of the personality clashes found in most high schools.

Although the school had tried mediation before the suits were filed, a second round of meetings at the county courthouse was more effective. A judge incorporated into the case record individual contracts between Ms. Blue and each of the other girls, in which they promise not to hassle each other.

“I think since the court was involved, it put a more serious spin on it for these girls,” Mr. Larcom said. “They grew up a lot.”

--Mark Walsh

A version of this article appeared in the April 17, 1996 edition of Education Week as Take Note

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