Can we all just take a deep breath before we get pulled so far into the mud, it will be impossible to escape?

Late last week, several students at Ellsworth Junior-Senior High School started a petition in support of English and Communications teacher Jenna Lanter. Ms. Lanter raised the ire of two parents for using “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” as reading material in her 8th grade classroom. The coming-of-age novel contains explicit material.

We have spent hours talking to students and parents and we have yet to piece together a timetable of events we feel comfortable publishing.

This we do know. The “Perks” controversy could have been better handled. Anyone who doubts that can look at the petition of support fot Ms. Lanter. More than 750 students and other Ellsworth residents have signed it in less than a week. The goal was 200 signatures and now it’s 1,000.

The “Help Ms. Lanter Keep Her Job” petition can be found at change.org

Much misinformation is connected to this affair. Monday morning, for instance, the word was out that the Ellsworth-Kanopolis-Geneseo School Board had voted not to renew Ms. Lanter’s contract a week ago at its monthly meeting. That is not the case and we hope it won’t be — ever — for Ms. Lanter or any other teacher in the district.

We seem to be living in a time when mistakes — or even a difference of opinion — call for the harshest punishment possible. That’s wrong and, if practiced in this case, could hurt the district as it recruits for future teachers and administrators.

The board has a wonderful opportunity to lower the temperature within the district and let people outside Ellsworth know USD 327 values good teachers and an honest exchange of ideas in its classrooms.

A final note — Congratulations to the students who organized the petition drive. They saw a situation they believed was unjust and took positive steps to address it.