South High looks to future following student melee

District plans to involve students and parents as it moves forward

by Tesha M. Christensen

South High School parent Linda Leonard was surprised that the district did not suspend classes the day after a food fight erupted into a melee involving hundreds of students.

“I was stunned they decided to have school on Friday,” stated Leonard.

After hearing the rumors there would be more fights, and knowing that there have been planned fights behind the YWCA and Target in the past, Leonard opted to keep her daughter, Mary-Juanita Leonard, home from school on Feb. 15, 2013. Mary-Juanita returned to class the next Tuesday, following the President’s Day break, after students had “a chance to calm down and collect themselves emotionally,” said her mother.

Mary-Juanita, a sophomore at South High, was in class on the third floor when they began to hear rumors about a fight in the cafeteria. After a series of bells went off, an announcement was made to empty the halls. Students who had been running through the building entered Mary-Juanita’s classroom.

 “I was wondering if the whole school was fighting each other,” recalled Mary-Juanita.

A fight, which began small during the first lunch period, escalated during the third lunch period at 12:45 p.m. as 200-300 students shoved, kicked and threw bottles at one another. No weapons were used and no one was arrested, although three students and one staff member were taken to the hospital for medical treatment. Both the school district and police investigations are ongoing and additional disciplinary action, as well as criminal charges of disorderly conduct and rioting, are possible. About 25 school staff members intervened. Students dispersed when a chemical irritant was used by Minneapolis Police officers.

Mary-Juanita has heard the news reports suggesting that this melee was racially motivated, part of ongoing tensions with Somali-Americans. Mary-Juanita, herself a Haitian-American, views the violence as being more related to gangs.

“I think the school should have an assembly and talk about all the groups in our school,” suggested Mary-Juanita. She would like to see discussions on the challenges each ethnic group represented at South High faces, and believes that if each group understood each other better students would be less judgmental of each other.

“This could happen again in the future,” Mary-Juanita warned.

Her mother hopes that a plan is created so that students know what to do in a situation such as this. Leonard pointed out that the students who were not involved in the fight didn’t know what to do and where to go to get away from the violence.

Leonard views the issue as being greater than merely a school problem, and sees it as a problem that all the various agencies in the city of Minneapolis should be working together on.

“It would be great if we educate our young people for cultural intelligence,” Leonard said. “It would be one of Minneapolis’ finest strengths to teach that concept.”

Restorative measures began on Tuesday, Feb. 19. According to Minneapolis Public Schools Chief Community Officer Stan Alleyne, the district will begin gathering students together in small groups. “We want to make sure the students have the opportunity to discuss what happened and how to move forward,” said Alleyne. Parents will also be pulled into the discussion.

“It should make us stronger in the long run,” he said.

Alleyne pointed out that the school day on Friday, Feb. 15 proceeded without any incidents. 

On the day following the melee, the school building was under a code yellow lockdown. Access into and out of the building was limited and students remained in their classrooms at all times. Extra school resource officers and central office staff members were on site. More adults than typical were at the school the next week, as well.

South High Principal Cecilia Saddler said, “I am proud of our students, who came to school to learn while being respectful of the environment and additional adult supervision. They have shown maturity and a willingness to address this issue in a positive way. I am optimistic that appropriate student responses will continue.”

At South High, nearly half of the school’s 1,750 students are students of color, and of those, 8 percent are of Somali heritage.

 “We are at the beginning of a necessary learning process in which we will engage parents, students, community members and partners to address challenges at South High School,” said Minneapolis Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Rick Mills. “I am confident that we can grow from this experience and become better as a school and school district.”