<font size="5"><center>A smooth day at Jones High after police presence boosted</font size>
<font size="4">Local students are urged to have compassion
for their counterparts from New Orleans</font size></center>
By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE
Houston Chronicle
September 14, 2005
Increased police presence at Jesse H. Jones High School kept the campus quiet Wednesday, but students and parents alike said they wouldn't be surprised if tension continues to escalate between students from Houston and New Orleans.
About a dozen police cars parked in front of campus Wednesday morning — a day after a fight sent three students to the hospital and five others facing misdemeanor charges. A district spokesman said attendance was low Wednesday, but noted there were no problems at the school, which normally houses about 200 New Orleans students and about 1,100 Houston students.
"Everything went very smoothly today. We're very proud of the kids and the staff," HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said.
All students searched
Houston mother Gwen Guyton was among the parents reluctant to let their children return to school.
"Look at this," she said, pointing to the police cars and TV cameras in front of Jones. "That's embarrassing. That doesn't look right at all."
All Houston students entered through the back of the high school Wednesday, where they were searched. Students bused from New Orleans entered through the front door, where they were searched. More than a dozen clergy were on hand to counsel students.
Students said the tension began when displaced students started threatening to take over Jones and Houston.
"We want them to realize these are our neighbors — not evacuees or strangers," said Gusta Booker, pastor of the Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church.
The Rev. James Nash, of Ministers Against Crime, added: "This is not a fight over turf. It's not about who was here first."
Volunteer Tommy Hobbs, who spends his days feeding and working with evacuated students at Reliant Park, said Houston students need to be reminded of the grief and devastation that their new classmates have survived.
"You haven't swam through 20 foot of water. You haven't been infected," he said. "You have to have compassion. If you don't have compassion, you're going to have chaos."
New Orleans evacuee Leroy Crawford, a peer mediator with Job Corps, said the tension wasn't a surprise to him. The schools should have taken more time to introduce students to one another and should have allowed evacuated students to remove their shelter identification bracelet for class, he said.
"It's heartbreaking. I asked them to be proactive. I told them every single day that we need to be proactive," said Crawford, who volunteered on campus Wednesday. "This is what youths do. There's a lot of uncertainty. You have people taken out of their comfort zones."
New Orleans resident Kelly Williams, 18, who is bused from the George R. Brown Convention Center to Scarborough High, said some students there also have had trouble getting along. "We've been about to fight three days in a row," she said. "We're not trying to take over. ... We don't even know our way around school so we just try to stick together."
Hoping for the best
Fannie Nash, a grandmother of a 15-year-old Jones student, said she hopes the students can get along.
"We're all God's children ... none of us come from any place but God," said Nash, who sat in her car until she was sure the New Orleans students had been searched the same way Houston ones were.
If not, the displaced students will need to be moved, she said.
"Put them by themselves since they want to fight. That way it'll cut down on the violence."
Students said the extra police will help keep problems away.
"There ain't going to be trouble today because they got police everywhere," sophomore John Smith, 15, said. "It's going to be all right because no one wants to go to jail."
jennifer.radcliffe@chron.com
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3354581
<font size="4">Local students are urged to have compassion
for their counterparts from New Orleans</font size></center>
By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE
Houston Chronicle
September 14, 2005
Increased police presence at Jesse H. Jones High School kept the campus quiet Wednesday, but students and parents alike said they wouldn't be surprised if tension continues to escalate between students from Houston and New Orleans.
About a dozen police cars parked in front of campus Wednesday morning — a day after a fight sent three students to the hospital and five others facing misdemeanor charges. A district spokesman said attendance was low Wednesday, but noted there were no problems at the school, which normally houses about 200 New Orleans students and about 1,100 Houston students.
"Everything went very smoothly today. We're very proud of the kids and the staff," HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said.
All students searched
Houston mother Gwen Guyton was among the parents reluctant to let their children return to school.
"Look at this," she said, pointing to the police cars and TV cameras in front of Jones. "That's embarrassing. That doesn't look right at all."
All Houston students entered through the back of the high school Wednesday, where they were searched. Students bused from New Orleans entered through the front door, where they were searched. More than a dozen clergy were on hand to counsel students.
Students said the tension began when displaced students started threatening to take over Jones and Houston.
"We want them to realize these are our neighbors — not evacuees or strangers," said Gusta Booker, pastor of the Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church.
The Rev. James Nash, of Ministers Against Crime, added: "This is not a fight over turf. It's not about who was here first."
Volunteer Tommy Hobbs, who spends his days feeding and working with evacuated students at Reliant Park, said Houston students need to be reminded of the grief and devastation that their new classmates have survived.
"You haven't swam through 20 foot of water. You haven't been infected," he said. "You have to have compassion. If you don't have compassion, you're going to have chaos."
New Orleans evacuee Leroy Crawford, a peer mediator with Job Corps, said the tension wasn't a surprise to him. The schools should have taken more time to introduce students to one another and should have allowed evacuated students to remove their shelter identification bracelet for class, he said.
"It's heartbreaking. I asked them to be proactive. I told them every single day that we need to be proactive," said Crawford, who volunteered on campus Wednesday. "This is what youths do. There's a lot of uncertainty. You have people taken out of their comfort zones."
New Orleans resident Kelly Williams, 18, who is bused from the George R. Brown Convention Center to Scarborough High, said some students there also have had trouble getting along. "We've been about to fight three days in a row," she said. "We're not trying to take over. ... We don't even know our way around school so we just try to stick together."
Hoping for the best
Fannie Nash, a grandmother of a 15-year-old Jones student, said she hopes the students can get along.
"We're all God's children ... none of us come from any place but God," said Nash, who sat in her car until she was sure the New Orleans students had been searched the same way Houston ones were.
If not, the displaced students will need to be moved, she said.
"Put them by themselves since they want to fight. That way it'll cut down on the violence."
Students said the extra police will help keep problems away.
"There ain't going to be trouble today because they got police everywhere," sophomore John Smith, 15, said. "It's going to be all right because no one wants to go to jail."
jennifer.radcliffe@chron.com
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3354581
