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April 2, 2000
Hispanic family claims harassment at high schoolSchool, police say they're taking steps to deal with family's problemsBy SARA SYVERSON and GUY PRIEL Journal Staff Writers NEW ULM -- A local Hispanic parent says racial tensions at New Ulm High School eventually lead to a fight off school grounds between her nephew, a son and their friend and a crowd of white students, and has caused her concern for the safety of her family. The confrontations and tensions stemmed from what Maria Gonzales, New Ulm, says were racial tensions surrounding her nephew, who is of Hispanic heritage,and other students at school, but she feels the school district has not handled the situation well. School officials and local police, however, say they have investigated the complaints and have taken appropriate actions, including suspensions of several students in March for making racially harassing statements. "There were some incidents that took place within the school setting that involved phrases and gestures that are not appropriate," Superintendent Harold Remme said. "This is a potentially volatile situation and we have taken a very proactive approach to the situation." School district officials said that there were some incidents in September, but things had remained fairly quiet for most of the school year, until just recently. According to District 88 reports, officials were able to substantiate that racial comments such as "spik" "nigger" "gang-banger" and "no one likes you Mexicans" were used at the high school. Gonzales said that a friend of her son, another juvenile, was assaulted after school in September. School officials indicated that the assault occurred off school property, thus was out of their jurisdiction. Gonzales said the school knew about the incident and supposedly reported it to the police, but she was not certain if the police received the report. New Ulm High School Principal Richard LaPatka said that this would not have been within the school's jurisdiction to report something like this to the police and that the parents of the student were informed that if they wanted to press charges they should go to the police. Another confrontation at school on Jan. 25, involving Gonzales' 14-year-old nephew on his second day in school, according to Gonzales. Prior to coming to New Ulm, her nephew had been living in Texas, Gonzales said. The nephew allegedly received harassing comments from some of the students at the high school, and he proceeded to take actions to defend himself, Gonzales said. According to Gonzales, at 10:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28, her family received a threatening phone call at their house from some juveniles who said one juvenile wanted to fight her nephew. Shortly after the phone call, approximately 12 or 13 juveniles were outside their home. They had arrived at the Gonzales residence in three vehicles, wanting to fight her nephew outside and told her nephew, her son and a friend of theirs that if they did not come outside to fight they would come up to the apartment to "get them," Gonzales said. By the time Gonzales was able to put more clothing on to go outside, the fight was over, she said. "I never thought they would come," said Gonzales, "Twelve kids ran between the buildings laughing and saying ... 'Yeah, we got 'em.'" Gonzales said her nephew was punched, kicked, and scratched during the fight outside their home. New Ulm Police Department investigated the incident that occurred outside the Gonzales home, according to New Ulm Police Commander Erv Weinkauf. "When we were made aware of what had happened we interviewed the people involved, and did a routine investigation," said Weinkauf. The Hate Crimes Task Force (of the Human Rights Commission) acknowledged that the New Ulm Police Department had conducted the investigation properly, Weinkauf said. Karla Hansel, of the Human Rights Commission said, "It's not an issue we feel we're done with." Hansel said a person from the Human Rights Commission met with the (Gonzales) family and did an interview and offered support to the family. The Human Rights Commission was made aware of the incident on Jan. 28 by a citizen in the community, Hansel said. They did complete a few of the steps in the immediate response plan, according to Hansel. The Hate Crimes Task Force explained their role to the family, expressed regret over the incident, set up an interview time with the family, exchanged phone numbers, and offered support from network groups. "The feeling I'm getting is the people involved are doing a very thorough job of investigating," said Hansel. Information released from the school district indicates that there was an argument in class between two students that continued into the hallway, but it was alleviated. That tension may be what eventually lead to the fight at the Gonzales residence, the report stated. "The kids didn't want me to do anything about it because they kept saying nothing is going to be done about it ... remember last time in September...," she said. Gonzales said she is willing to stand up for what she believes in. Gonzales went to the school after the incident at her home to discuss the situation, because the juveniles wanted to assault her son. Gonzales said she was told by one school official that she should keep him at home, because it was a Friday and what happened off school grounds was out of their hands. The following Monday, Jan. 31, her nephew was called in to talk to the school authorities, Gonzales said. District 88 Human Rights Officer Jilene D. Lorentz conducted an investigation into the incident, interviewing 18 students. According to a report released from the school district, "Many of the situations are provoked, potential fights are initiated and the same student has referred to other students as 'Niggers' on multiple occasions." Although which student specifically is being referred to here was not made clear under the state Data Privacy Act. "I went to the school because there were threats at school," Gonzales said. "They (juveniles) told my daughter, you know, 'Yeah, we got your cousin now. One down, five to go' ... and they were trying to find somebody to beat up my daughter." The one down, five to go comment was substantiated during the investigation conducted by Lorentz. Gonzales said that this comment, "One down five to go..." was made to her daughter (by juveniles) after her nephew was beaten up. Gonzales said she was concerned for the safety of her family after hearing this threat because there are five people in her family. Gonzales indicated that other students had tried to fight with her son in school, and nothing was being done about the threats. Her son was told by some of the students that he should drop out if there were problems. "I feel the school should know," Gonzales said. "I do feel the parents need to know what their kids are doing. Maybe if the parents can talk to these kids maybe there are kids who are being pushed into it just cause they want to fit into that group." The school investigation determined that there were racial comments in use at New Ulm High School, but whether or not there had been threats of a physical nature could not be substantiated. As a result of the school investigation, five students were suspended for three days on March 2 for making racially harassing statements against other students, in violation of District 88 policy. "We have met with the Multi-Cultural Regional Center in Mankato," Remme said. "They will be in the district to discuss issues with the staff during a future in-service regarding multi-cultural issues and to provide conflict mediation training." Lorentz stated that the district and the police have open lines of communication in all matters and are cooperating fully with each other to resolve the situation. Weinkauf said, "I believe we have a very good working relationship with the school district." Pablo Gonzales, Maria's husband said, "I guess they're (school officials) trying to fix things. Raising kids is between the parents and the teachers. If you're having a problem with your kids wouldn't you want to know? Why not fix it while it's a small problem?" The matter concerning the incident at the Gonzales' home was turned over to Brown County Attorney, James Olson, who said two petty offender petitions for disorderly conduct are pending.
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