Asian group hits report on school fights

The report released yesterday by a retired federal judge into racial violence at South Philly High revealed no new discoveries, education advocates said.

Nonetheless, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman called the report "thorough and comprehensive." Community activists said the report was merely window-dressing.

"What was interesting and maybe new to me is how complicated this issue really is . . . and I think it's fair," Ackerman said at a news conference.

Judge James T. Giles, hired by the district to investigate attacks on Asian students on Dec. 3, spoke with reporters at district headquarters about his findings. Later, he and Ackerman went to South Philly High to brief student leaders and teachers.

Fights in and outside the school on Dec. 2 sparked the series of attacks the next day on Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian students, the report stated.

Rumors of the Dec. 2 incident circulated through the school, anger flared and a group of black students, who heard that a disabled black student had been jumped by a group of Asians, assaulted about 30 Asian students in and around the school on Dec. 3.

Giles could not determine whether the disabled student had been attacked.

At least one Cambodian girl was also identified as an attacker on Dec. 3, the report read.

Giles concluded that the attacks could have been planned by people who didn't attend the school or by students who were absent that day. "Leaders" of the packs are unknown, although the assailants were reported to be in the ninth and 10th grades.

Most of the victims who were attacked on Dec. 3 had no connection to the incident of Dec. 2, Giles said. In some cases, he said, they were misidentified or randomly attacked.

After the attacks, dozens of students boycotted school for eight days to protest the district's response. The district suspended 22 students who were involved in the attacks, transferring some of them to disciplinary schools.

Giles reviewed lunchroom-security footage and interviewed witnesses and victims who agreed to be questioned.

He also interviewed store owners near the school, administrators, teachers, security officers and other school personnel, and city police.

Helen Gym, of Asian Americans United, said the report had failed to address the history of violence against Asian immigrant students at the school.

"What we have is a report that is extremely limited in the scope of the investigation, contains inaccuracies and misrepresentation as a result of only interviewing a fraction of the victimized students," Gym said.

Giles said he had been commissioned to investigate only the incidents of Dec. 2 and 3.

He recommended that the school punish students involved in assaults and those who watch fights as they occur and that the school set up a tip line to warn of coming violence. The district added security cameras and personnel after the incident.

Gym called his proposals "vague and generic." Cecilia Chen, staff attorney for the Asian American Legal Defense Fund, said a suit against the district and school was ongoing.