Monday, November 21, 2005
Fight result of built-up tension
Lots of fun at a local high school. The place that I graduated from many years ago.
You can read it here or here:
Tensions had been building for weeks at Conroe High School before Thursday's melee, according to parents and students.
They said the fight was between students from Conroe and those who evacuated Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina in August and now attend Conroe High School.
On Thursday, the standoff boiled over into a massive brawl involving at least 30 students who fought each other before school in the cafeteria and front hallway.
According to Conroe Independent School District spokeswoman Kay Galindo, several students received citations, with possible charges ranging from assault to disorderly conduct and disruption of school. Nine students have been recommended for expulsion and will not be allowed to enroll in any other CISD school, or Texas public school for that matter.
"(The expulsion process) becomes part of the disciplinary record, and it's recognized by all other schools in Texas," Galindo said.
Security was boosted at the school Friday, with an increased number of Conroe ISD Police as well as Conroe Police Department officers on hand to patrol in the area and on campus, according to Galindo. Students were also checked randomly with metal detector wands, she said.
Nevertheless, about 500 students - 18 percent of the student population of around 2,700 - opted to stay home from school.
"Typically, 100 students are absent, which is about 3 to 4 percent of the students," Galindo said.
One student, a Conroe resident who has been recommended for expulsion because of the fight, said there had been smaller fights between the Louisiana and Conroe students ever since Louisiana students started attending school at CHS.
"There was a lot of arguing," said the student, who didn't want his name used. "We'd try to talk with them, and they'd talk down to us. They'd try to jump our friends. I think it's going to get worse."
The student also thinks Thursday's fight won't be the last.
"It's going to go down again," he predicted.
Gwen Williams, an evacuee from New Orleans whose son attends Conroe High, said her son wasn't hurt because he stayed out of the fight Thursday.
"He knew it was between the New Orleans kids and the Conroe kids," she said, "so he stayed away from it."
But her son has had two incidents at school that could have escalated if he had handled things differently, she said. One was a case of mistaken identity when water was thrown on him. The second incident happened after the fight when another student called him a "punk."
"I said, 'Don't worry about words; walk away from it," she said. "My kids are meek and mild. They're not kids who get into fights."
Conroe is the third stop in the Williamses' saga since they fled New Orleans and the first time the children have ever been in public school, Williams said.
"I guess the Conroe kids think the New Orleans kids are getting better treatment," she said. "They haven't been what we've been through."
One Conroe woman, whose son was expelled, said she believes the Louisiana students and their parents have been given preferential treatment.
"No New Orleans kids were arrested, but one Conroe kid went to jail," she said. "They had all the New Orleans parents in the cafeteria and were catering to them. I know kids need an education. But when you have kids not following the rules, they should all be disciplined. This is their (the Conroe students') school, but you ought to have the same consequences for all."
Treatment was not different for the Conroe and Louisiana students, Galindo said.
"We strongly believe that they are all Conroe High School students," she said. "We treat them all fairly and we don't differentiate where someone might have lived before, because we have students come here from all over."
Thursday's fight was not the first in the state involving factions of Texas and Louisiana students. Another incident occurred Thursday at Lincoln High School in Dallas, when the school lost power in the morning.
Several fights reportedly broke out between Texas students and Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans, officials and students said. Dallas police and school district police officers were called to keep order on the campus.
Once power was restored, the school's principal held a meeting with New Orleans students to address their concerns and "to make sure there wasn't anything escalating there."
And in Houston, five students were arrested after about 20-25 Louisiana and Texas students got into a fight at Jones High School in September. That fight started when a Jones High School student allegedly threw a soda can toward New Orleans students, according to Houston Independent School District officials.
The incident has not been an isolated one.
"That incident was certainly the gravest," HISD spokeswoman Lisa Bunse said. "We've boosted security there, and some of the local ministers came in to assist with counseling. We know students are dealing with issues. The kids from New Orleans have a lot on their plate, not only moving to new schools but losing their homes. Tensions have run high.
"The schools have been good at dealing with telling students that we have to be patient because these kids are going through a lot."
There are about 5,727 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in HISD schools. In the Conroe ISD, the number of evacuees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita reached a high of around 900 earlier this school year, but it has gone down to 638, according to Galindo.
Forty-seven of those students are at Conroe High School. Galindo said Thursday's fight was the "first and only one of this type" that has happened at the school this year. On Friday, the day after the fight, with its heightened security and high number of absences, it turned out to be a "very positive" school day.
"Teachers and parents greeted the students, and it was a great place to be," she said.
The Conroe mother whose son was expelled because of the fight is trying to organize a meeting of parents of both Conroe and Louisiana students, as well as CISD officials, to figure out things and make things better.
"Who's going to protect our kids and say, 'This has got to stop?'" she asked. "There's going to have to be some kind of medium."
You can read it here or here:
Tensions had been building for weeks at Conroe High School before Thursday's melee, according to parents and students.
They said the fight was between students from Conroe and those who evacuated Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina in August and now attend Conroe High School.
On Thursday, the standoff boiled over into a massive brawl involving at least 30 students who fought each other before school in the cafeteria and front hallway.
According to Conroe Independent School District spokeswoman Kay Galindo, several students received citations, with possible charges ranging from assault to disorderly conduct and disruption of school. Nine students have been recommended for expulsion and will not be allowed to enroll in any other CISD school, or Texas public school for that matter.
"(The expulsion process) becomes part of the disciplinary record, and it's recognized by all other schools in Texas," Galindo said.
Security was boosted at the school Friday, with an increased number of Conroe ISD Police as well as Conroe Police Department officers on hand to patrol in the area and on campus, according to Galindo. Students were also checked randomly with metal detector wands, she said.
Nevertheless, about 500 students - 18 percent of the student population of around 2,700 - opted to stay home from school.
"Typically, 100 students are absent, which is about 3 to 4 percent of the students," Galindo said.
One student, a Conroe resident who has been recommended for expulsion because of the fight, said there had been smaller fights between the Louisiana and Conroe students ever since Louisiana students started attending school at CHS.
"There was a lot of arguing," said the student, who didn't want his name used. "We'd try to talk with them, and they'd talk down to us. They'd try to jump our friends. I think it's going to get worse."
The student also thinks Thursday's fight won't be the last.
"It's going to go down again," he predicted.
Gwen Williams, an evacuee from New Orleans whose son attends Conroe High, said her son wasn't hurt because he stayed out of the fight Thursday.
"He knew it was between the New Orleans kids and the Conroe kids," she said, "so he stayed away from it."
But her son has had two incidents at school that could have escalated if he had handled things differently, she said. One was a case of mistaken identity when water was thrown on him. The second incident happened after the fight when another student called him a "punk."
"I said, 'Don't worry about words; walk away from it," she said. "My kids are meek and mild. They're not kids who get into fights."
Conroe is the third stop in the Williamses' saga since they fled New Orleans and the first time the children have ever been in public school, Williams said.
"I guess the Conroe kids think the New Orleans kids are getting better treatment," she said. "They haven't been what we've been through."
One Conroe woman, whose son was expelled, said she believes the Louisiana students and their parents have been given preferential treatment.
"No New Orleans kids were arrested, but one Conroe kid went to jail," she said. "They had all the New Orleans parents in the cafeteria and were catering to them. I know kids need an education. But when you have kids not following the rules, they should all be disciplined. This is their (the Conroe students') school, but you ought to have the same consequences for all."
Treatment was not different for the Conroe and Louisiana students, Galindo said.
"We strongly believe that they are all Conroe High School students," she said. "We treat them all fairly and we don't differentiate where someone might have lived before, because we have students come here from all over."
Thursday's fight was not the first in the state involving factions of Texas and Louisiana students. Another incident occurred Thursday at Lincoln High School in Dallas, when the school lost power in the morning.
Several fights reportedly broke out between Texas students and Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans, officials and students said. Dallas police and school district police officers were called to keep order on the campus.
Once power was restored, the school's principal held a meeting with New Orleans students to address their concerns and "to make sure there wasn't anything escalating there."
And in Houston, five students were arrested after about 20-25 Louisiana and Texas students got into a fight at Jones High School in September. That fight started when a Jones High School student allegedly threw a soda can toward New Orleans students, according to Houston Independent School District officials.
The incident has not been an isolated one.
"That incident was certainly the gravest," HISD spokeswoman Lisa Bunse said. "We've boosted security there, and some of the local ministers came in to assist with counseling. We know students are dealing with issues. The kids from New Orleans have a lot on their plate, not only moving to new schools but losing their homes. Tensions have run high.
"The schools have been good at dealing with telling students that we have to be patient because these kids are going through a lot."
There are about 5,727 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in HISD schools. In the Conroe ISD, the number of evacuees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita reached a high of around 900 earlier this school year, but it has gone down to 638, according to Galindo.
Forty-seven of those students are at Conroe High School. Galindo said Thursday's fight was the "first and only one of this type" that has happened at the school this year. On Friday, the day after the fight, with its heightened security and high number of absences, it turned out to be a "very positive" school day.
"Teachers and parents greeted the students, and it was a great place to be," she said.
The Conroe mother whose son was expelled because of the fight is trying to organize a meeting of parents of both Conroe and Louisiana students, as well as CISD officials, to figure out things and make things better.
"Who's going to protect our kids and say, 'This has got to stop?'" she asked. "There's going to have to be some kind of medium."
