ism
01-09-2004, 07:40 PM
By Jessica Bock
Wausau Daily Herald
Students who say they were victims of a racially motivated lunchtime prank at D.C. Everest Junior High [in Wisconsin] are suing the district and the students who replaced mayonnaise with glue in the school cafeteria.
Five students are named in the lawsuit, which contends they put a bottle of wood glue on a cafeteria condiment table. Six Hmong students mistook the glue for mayonnaise and put glue on their sandwiches. They took a few bites before realizing something was wrong.
Police and school officials investigated the April incident and concluded that the incident had nothing to do with race. The school suspended three students, two white and one nonwhite, for three days, and the Everest Metro Police Department cited the three for disorderly conduct.
[...]
The students who ate the glue received medical treatment after the incident, and some continue to be treated because they ingested the glue, said Spencer Davczyk, the Wausau attorney representing the students who say they were victims.
The School District said last spring that two of the six were white, but Davczyk said Thursday that all were Hmong.
[...]
The children put the glue on the table to target the Hmong children, the suit says. The complaint also says the prank occurred because the district failed to supervise the students.
The district's insurance company is handling the lawsuit, said Superintendent Kristine Gilmore, who declined to comment further.
The mother of one of the students who replaced the mayonnaise with glue said the group was not targeting Hmong students. The Daily Herald is not naming the woman to protect the identity of her child.
"It was absolutely, positively not a racial incident," she said. "It was a practical joke that has been blown out of proportion."
Labeling it a racial incident has been upsetting to her son, who told her the kids made the switch as a joke but that it was not intended to target Hmong students, she said.
full article (http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/291188703321208.shtml)
No info on the ages of the children involved. I emailed the story's author for more info but don't expect anything until Monday at the earliest.
Most interesting is the quote from the mother of one of the perpetrators. Apparently, being called a racist is more upsetting than being called a racial slur.
Wausau Daily Herald
Students who say they were victims of a racially motivated lunchtime prank at D.C. Everest Junior High [in Wisconsin] are suing the district and the students who replaced mayonnaise with glue in the school cafeteria.
Five students are named in the lawsuit, which contends they put a bottle of wood glue on a cafeteria condiment table. Six Hmong students mistook the glue for mayonnaise and put glue on their sandwiches. They took a few bites before realizing something was wrong.
Police and school officials investigated the April incident and concluded that the incident had nothing to do with race. The school suspended three students, two white and one nonwhite, for three days, and the Everest Metro Police Department cited the three for disorderly conduct.
[...]
The students who ate the glue received medical treatment after the incident, and some continue to be treated because they ingested the glue, said Spencer Davczyk, the Wausau attorney representing the students who say they were victims.
The School District said last spring that two of the six were white, but Davczyk said Thursday that all were Hmong.
[...]
The children put the glue on the table to target the Hmong children, the suit says. The complaint also says the prank occurred because the district failed to supervise the students.
The district's insurance company is handling the lawsuit, said Superintendent Kristine Gilmore, who declined to comment further.
The mother of one of the students who replaced the mayonnaise with glue said the group was not targeting Hmong students. The Daily Herald is not naming the woman to protect the identity of her child.
"It was absolutely, positively not a racial incident," she said. "It was a practical joke that has been blown out of proportion."
Labeling it a racial incident has been upsetting to her son, who told her the kids made the switch as a joke but that it was not intended to target Hmong students, she said.
full article (http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/291188703321208.shtml)
No info on the ages of the children involved. I emailed the story's author for more info but don't expect anything until Monday at the earliest.
Most interesting is the quote from the mother of one of the perpetrators. Apparently, being called a racist is more upsetting than being called a racial slur.