students speak out on south philly violence report

More on the December 3 violence at South Philadelphia High School, this time from perspective of Asian students who were actually attacked... they say the official school district report release earlier this month ignores crucial portions of their accounts on the violence: Students say assault report is lacking.

She told her story to an investigator who helped compile the official school-district report on the Dec. 3 violence. But in an interview, Truong disputed how the report describes a key part of the assault.

Interviews with six Asian students and a legal complaint obtained by the newspaper show:

The students say investigators ignored crucial portions of their accounts of the violence.

Youths insist that interviewers cut off their attempts to place the Dec. 3 violence in the context of years of assaults against Asian students.

At least 26 separate assaults against Asian students occurred during the 2008-09 school year alone, the complaint says.

Of course, James Giles, the retired federal judge who conducted the inquiry at the request of school Superintended Arlene Ackerman, says his report was "objective, balanced, and aimed at discovering the truth." It's also completely useless.

The problem is, the report is deliberately limited in scope, focusing solely on the events of December 2 and 3. Giles claims that delving into "every previous incident would have required staff, resources, and time that he did not have." Seriously? Then what good is the damn report at all? Why even bother?

Asian American community advocates say that's exactly where the report is flawed. It fails to tie the December 3 violence to years of previous attacks -- the daylong assaults were a culmination, not an aberration.

After 3 months and nearly $100,000 of public money, the District's investigation leaves the community right back where we started on December 3 -- with vastly different accounts of what happened in school that day and why.

This Wednesday, if you're in the Philadelphia area, concerned community members are calling on you to stand with the students at South Philadelphia High School as they tell their stories before the School Reform Commission. Here are the details:

S. Philly student speakout:

Wed., Mar. 17th
School District HQ, 440 N. Broad Street
Contact: Asian Americans United for more info
215-925-1538; aau@aaunited.org

To submit testimony to the School Reform Commission, please email: eodavis@philasd.org. For more information, background and continuous updates on this issue, visit the Asian Americans United website here.