Granite City adds insult to its departure from athletics conference

Granite City High School is leaving the Southwestern Conference in athletics because there are no metal detectors at the other schools. They worry about their students’ safety.

But they are willing to join another conference that doesn’t have metal detectors at its schools.

Huh?

District administrators say a gun spotted in the stands Feb. 21, when the Granite City Warriors played at East St. Louis Senior High School, triggered their call for metal detectors. Those calls were not taken seriously, so they are taking their ball and playing elsewhere.

Laying this off on metal detectors and East Side seems less than genuine and pretty unfair. We doubt Granite City has any more or any fewer knuckleheads who think it’s OK to bring a gun to a boys basketball game.

Is this about safety or playing in East St. Louis, and a little hint of losing too often, and a whole lot of shrinking student population?

No one is forcing Granite City to be part of any one conference. Their former competitors wished them well wherever they land.

But it would have been a whole lot classier to just leave without making a rude gesture as they hit the door.

This story was originally published May 12, 2017 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Granite City adds insult to its departure from athletics conference."