East Lansing High School students walk out to protest violence

UPDATE: East Lansing canceled a boys basketball game slated for Thursday night and classes at the high school for Friday. In addition, the school board has scheduled a special meeting for 7 p.m. Monday in the high school auditorium.

EAST LANSING — As East Lansing High School students walked out of class Thursday morning to protest increasing incidents of violence in the school and inaction by officials, the Board of Education called for safety enhancements and improved communications between the district and the community.

Some East Lansing students said they wouldn't return Friday in protest of several recent violent events.

Lydia-Anne Ding-Mejok, a junior, was among a group of high school students who spoke to a crowd of more than 100 students, teachers and parents in front of the school Thursday morning.

Being a student at the school right now is "terrifying," she said. And, like several other student speakers, she blamed the Board of Education for its inaction.

"The board hasn't been taking action as they should have been toward our safety," Ding-Mejok said. "Kids are scared. Kids are scared of coming to school. They're scared of walking into school and we just need to do something.

"It's scary knowing that you could walk into school, you could see a fight and then two hours later you could be in lockdown for a gun threat," she said.

Concerns about violence boiled over following a Jan. 19 fight outside a basketball game at the school in which a firearm was dropped by a participant, and another fight on Jan. 20 inside the school. Monday, students, teachers and community members filled the Board of Education meeting, sharing concerns, and the East Lansing mayor now plans a "listening session" regarding the violence.

During Thursday's walkout, Avery Fitzpatrick, a junior, said she witnessed occasional fights when she was a student at MacDonald Middle School, but it's completely different as a high school student.

"I feel unsafe in my school," she said. "There's been far too many fights for it to be considered normal. In middle school, there's fights once in a while, but it's been constant lately (at the high school). It's terrifying, honestly, with everything that we've heard."

Dozens of parents attended the walkout in support of their students. Jim Curran, the parent of high school, middle school and Glencairn Elementary students said the violence is getting in the way of learning.

"It's clearly evident that students, the first thing on their minds is their safety concerns and that's now getting in the way of their learning," he said. "Until the adults fix that problem, the kids are right to voice and show their concern."

Monday, dozens of students, teachers and parents to shared their concerns, with many criticizing what they considered lax disciplinary measures for students.

Students called on the Board of Education to adopt several safety measures, including installing metal detectors at school entrances, hiring a school resource officer and adding more mental health supports for students.

At the meeting, East Lansing School Board President Kath Edsall, who is now the target of a petition calling for her resignation, argued security at the school has not been compromised since the removal of school resource officers.

Superintendent Dori Leyko said the district had two security guards on-site at the high school who were contracted through DK Security when she became superintendent eight years ago. They also had a school resource officer for the district who shared time across all of the buildings.

The funds that paid for those positions were "repurposed," according to Leyko, to instead provide personnel who could help monitor hallways and support students and families. That staff included two full-time student advocates, two full-time hall monitors and one full-time staffer from Communities in Schools, a nonprofit that assigns staff to working inside schools to "connect students to caring adults...," according to the organization's website.

Edsall supported the removal of a school resource officer after, she said, a police officer used a Taser on a student for being disrespectful and another incident that left a former student disabled after they were not allowed access to an inhaler while a resource officer was at the school.

Like the students, Curran pointed to the school board's lack of action. Eliminating school resource officers was a mistake, he said. Bringing a school resource officer back would be a big first step in helping students and parents feel safer.

The Board of Education released a statement Tuesday, sharing three commitments following the recent violence:

• Directing Leyko to bring recommendations for short- and long-term safety enhancements to be implemented across the district

• Hosting a meeting with members of the community and safety experts, including the East Lansing Police Department, East Lansing City Council and others, to discuss coordinated plans to improve safety in schools and the East Lansing community

• Communicating regularly with the community at school board meetings regarding ongoing efforts to address safety concerns.

Prior to the board issuing its statement, East Lansing Mayor Ron Bacon announced he would conduct a school and public safety listening session Friday. He has not responded to messages from the State Journal seeking comment this week, but said in a statement that, “This Friday’s listening session will be hosted to hear from people who have requested to talk to us, and we hope to be able to come away from it with some solutions.”

In addition, the East Lansing Student Council Executive Board sent a letter to the district's student, teachers, families and community members with three demands, including enforcing punishments and providing clear consequences for student actions, Edsall's resignation, and increased mental health support for students and staff affected by violence.

Contact Mark Johnson at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: East Lansing students walk out, board makes commitment to stop violence