By BECKY CRISSMAN

becky.crissman@gaflnews.com

CORDELE — School officials here are taking measures to control a number of rumors that have circulated following Tuesday’s election.

The Cordele Dispatch has received several calls from people questioning rumors of riots, guns and fights in the schools.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Crisp County School Superintendent Dr. Judy Bean said citizens can rest assured that there are no such problems in the school system.

“Our students are behaving and conducting themselves properly,” said Bean. “There have been some words and typical mouthing, but nothing has escalated to violence.”

Bean said that the rumors have come from text messages some students have been sending out, possibly in an attempt to get parents to take them out of school. The system, she said, has been looking into the text messaging situation. When the guilty parties are discovered, there will be consequences, she indicated.

“All of our schools have cell phone policies forbidding their use during school,” said Bean. “However, if a student is caught involved in texting rumors, especially those of a threatening nature, he or she will be punished according to the severity of his or her comments.

“We are being guarded and handling comments immediately, but we are having our best school year yet overall,” the superintendent said.

Bean said that students are still allowed to wear their political attire whether they are Obama or McCain supporters as long as the messages are not offensive to others and no foul language is printed on them.

Crisp County High School Principal Toriano Gilbert agreed, “Students may continue to wear T-shirts to express their political views as long as they do not disturb the flow of education because that is what is important.

“A formal dress code has always been in place to let the students know what is and is not acceptable. Clothing of an offensive nature, or anything promoting violence, drugs or sex is and always has been prohibited,” the principal added.

Gilbert said that he too had heard numerous rumors about possible violence at CCHS.

“The worst of the rumors came on election day,” said Gilbert. “I actually received a call from the superintendent of Pulaski County Schools wanting to know if we had really shut down schools due to riots in Crisp County.