"Highlanders beat the Saxons!" "Saxons take Rotary Cup from Highlanders!" How many times do the local papers use these headlines? Season after season and sport after sport, girls, boys, field, court – you name it. There is nothing like a hometown rivalry to bring that extra edge to a game. But this has been a devastating week in McLean where instead the headlines have read, “Five Juveniles Arrested for Public Drunkenness Following Friday's McLean-Langley Game” and Update: Police Investigation into Police, Student Clash McDonald's Could Take 2 Months.  

Last Friday, a large number of kids descended on McDonald’s in McLean following the McLean vs. Langley Varsity Basketball games (girls played first, then boys).

Estimates run from 100 to 300 kids showed up at the McDonald’s on Old Dominion Drive after the last game. An interesting note; although alcohol was being credited for much of the problem last Friday, there was only 1 juvenile arrested for public drunkenness at McDonald’s.

According to these published estimates, alcohol accounted for 1% to 0.34% of the problems at McDonald’s Friday night. That leaves at least 99% of the problem unaccounted for!  

What would explain the cause of the other 99% of McLean’s Friday Night Lights issue?  

Have you ever driven by a field of ankle-biters playing a sport? Aren’t they so cute, all bunched up together following whatever ball is in play, tripping over each other’s feet? Over time, these little ones grow and develop and practice how to hold their positions, learn their role. The mob begins to look and behave like a team.  

The kids that descended on McDonald’s are our social ankle-biters. Teens are experiencing rapid growth, unruly hormones, bodies that don’t always respond the way they expect. Study after study shows that teens’ brain development does not catch up to these growth spurts until age 25. The frontal lobe isn’t developed until then; the area of the brain that is utilized in impulse control, decision-making, evaluating risk. What do these gangly creatures want? They want to be with their friends, to be accepted, to be a part of the social team.

This is one area where our community falls far short in promoting healthy growth and development of our youth.There is just no place for our kids to safely congregate and practice their social skills together.

These kids are good kids; our local papers prove it with story after story of their passionate support of our community. They spend hours reading to elementary school students, collecting food donations for Share, doing Eagle Scout projects, Girl Scout projects.

They clean up creeks and rivers, work at animal shelters. They win national competitions in academics, music, drama, and art.  They visit local nursing homes and play board games, read to residents.  

Yes, there is a rivalry between schools; but these kids are not out to hurt each other. After hard hitting tackles, they offer a hand up and a pat on the shoulder on the way back to the huddle.

They have grown up playing on the same youth teams, going to the same summer camps. They know and like each other and will be friends in 25 years when they return as our doctors and teachers and even in our police force.

Groups of kids from both schools last Friday were talking together about summer plans and raising money together for a Langley coach in distress. These kids are not thugs.

They are just huge ankle-biters looking for a place to talk to their friends; to develop those frontal lobes and the only place with open doors in McLean is McDonald’s.  Really, aren’t they so cute?

We’ve seen this mob before; we know what they will become with practice, practice, practice.  

Go to Arlington, or Vienna, or Falls Church City, where there are community resources devoted to citizens of every age, including teens.

See the Community Centers with basketball and tennis courts available, skate parks, teen centers; downtown development with numerous restaurants and choices supported by local government.

Then take a hard look at our hometown. Where can McLean’s underage population go?

•  The Old Firehouse Teen Center is restricted to kids in 7th-9th grade.
•  Neighbors protest activity at the high schools, bringing sound meters to test the volume of the announcers during games, threaten lawsuits.
• Huge public meetings protesting field improvements in the community, blocking development of athletic facilities such as gyms, excluding teens from community areas.
• Community volunteers are afraid to organize teen events, or there just isn’t enough help or expertise to provide a safe environment for our kids.

Our kids see these efforts. Our good kids feel unwanted by our community.  

This problem isn’t going away in McLean. Drive around and look at the trailers outside of the pyramid elementary schools, some are on last year’s sports fields.

Google the term “Echo Boomer” and take a look at the population growth. This is the smallest high school population that McLean is expected to have for the next 20 years. The time to address a safe place for our youth to grow and develop is now.

These are terrific kids ready and passionate about being productive citizens in our community, they just need a village and more to provide the firm but caring guidance to get them there. 

Join the discussion and help to make the McLean community great. Let’s show the kids we can learn from our mistakes, just as we expect them to learn from theirs. We aren’t thugs, are we?    

Below are some ways you can help:

• McLean Community Center holds meetings in which the public is welcome to attend and make suggestions for improvements: Next Meeting Feb. 22 at 7pm

• Both High Schools sponsor alcohol free All Night Grad Parties and are looking for volunteers, chaperones and donations (the kids really don’t want Mommy there):

        McLean - http://www.mcleanptsa.org/AllNightGrad

        Langley - http://www.langleyptsa.org/?page_id=150

• Both High Schools are fundraising for  new turf fields. Adding turf to the properties will allow more opportunities for students, less “wait time” for practices. Turf will also benefit Band, PE, Dance and other school activities – it is not all about sports.

• McLean Turf Initiative – MHS Athletic Boosters: https://sites.google.com/site/mcleanathleticboosters/

• Langley Turf Initiative: http://www.langleyturf.org/

• McLean Youth Athletics is looking for advocates and community planners to help develop opportunities for youth.   http://www.myathletics.org Joel Stillman is leading the charge there.

• Safe Communities Coalition: http://www.safecommunitycoalition.net/

• McLean HS PTSA: http://www.mcleanptsa.org/

• Langley HS PTSA: http://www.langleyptsa.org/

Both High Schools have multiple activities and groups to accommodate all kinds of interests and talent. Want to help with Drama, Band, or one of the many “After 2” activities? Check the High School Websites for opportunities.

http://www.fcps.edu/McLeanHS/index.html

http://www.fcps.edu/LangleyHS/

P.S. There were numerous comments on the negative articles recently published in the McLean Patch and other local papers and news sites. Students read these comments and are saddened by the negative perspective. Take this challenge and comment more often on these wonderful kid’s accomplishments. Reward their good choices and hard work. Applaud their successes.

GO HIGHLANDERS!  GO SAXONS!

Jennifer Bargerstock, is a McLean native, mother of three and former president of the McLean High School Boosters.

McLean Patch welcomes other opinion articles discussing this important topic of lack of gathering places for McLean teenagers in downtown.