District clears S. Phila. student of gang charge

City school district officials formally acknowledged yesterday that 17-year-old Hao Luu was not connected to a street gang - an allegation that was used to ban him from South Philadelphia High.

Evelyn Sample-Oates, the district's vice president for communications, said a letter had been placed in Luu's file to acknowledge his innocence and clear his name of the charge.

"If there's any wrongdoing on the school district's part," she said, promising a full review, "we certainly will apologize to him and his family."

The district, at the request of the School Reform Commission, will examine the actions and decisions that led to Luu's suspension and ban from the school, which was convulsed by racial violence Dec. 3.

Luu's grandmother Suong Nguyen testified tearfully before the commission Wednesday, insisting on her grandson's innocence and pleading with officials to "reveal Hao's case and help him clear from the wrongful accusations."

Her words prompted Commissioner Johnny Irizarry to seek an explanation from the district staff, a request that Chairman Robert Archie obliged.

The case of Luu, an immigrant from Vietnam, has become a focal point for Asian activists critical of how the district has disciplined students accused of playing a role in the violence.

In an interview last night, Luu said he was thrilled to hear he'd been cleared of gang affiliation and relieved for his family. He had not received any official notification from school officials.

"Before, I was really worried, especially when I heard they were saying I was from a gang," he said through a translator. "I was worried how it would affect if I could go to college or get a job. My family was so concerned that the school wasn't treating me right. My grandmother, my mom, and my dad and especially me are so relieved and so happy."

Luu's grandmother said in a separate interview that she was "amazed and happy," pleased that the commission had listened and acted.

Still, Nguyen said, she and her grandson deserve a letter of apology. Both can reclaim their dignity, and "my soul can be at peace," she said.

"I can finally sleep well and not worry about my grandson," Nguyen said through a translator. Her grandson will not return to South Philadelphia High, she said.

Luu was among the students suspended as a result of the violence that enveloped the school Dec. 3, when Asians faced a daylong series of assaults by groups of mostly African American classmates. A district inquiry blamed the violence on rumors that sprang from an after-school altercation between Asian and African American students the previous day.

Luu's supporters say he was not involved in a fight Dec. 2 but was the victim of a beating.

During the school day, another student accosted him in a hall and yanked the earphones out of his ears. After school, he was followed by 10 to 15 students, attacked, and beaten so badly that he vomited.

During the next two months, his attorney and other advocates said, Luu was ordered transferred from the school despite having won his case at a disciplinary hearing. He was accused of being in a gang, an allegation his family strongly denied. At one point, officials accused him of taking part in a fight in 2008 - a time when he was living in Virginia.

Luu's attorney, Cecilia Chen of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said she was gratified that the commission had quickly sought an accounting of what she called "the wrongdoing of district personnel."

But Luu and his family still "are facing long-term consequences of the false accusations and reckless disciplinary action taken against him by the school and district," Chen said.

Chen said those actions fit a pattern in which the district "has misrepresented what happened and who was responsible for the violence at South Philadelphia High School on Dec. 3."

The Legal Defense Fund has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice accusing the district of being "indifferent" to the welfare and safety of Asian students.

Luu, banned from the high school and with his academic year slipping away, enrolled in a private religious school in mid-February.

"Chairman Archie asked the staff to do a full investigation into this, and find out exactly what happened," Sample-Oates said. "We're trying to do our due diligence and find out exactly what happened."

That review will encompass all the suspended students but specifically Luu, as his case has evolved from Dec. 2 until now.

"We found no gang relation in his file. We've cleared his record on that," she said.

Sample-Oates said any kind of disruption to Luu's education had been because "we were trying to make sure there would be no harm to him or to the school climate in South Philadelphia. Any actions we've taken would be for his own safety."

On Feb. 5, after the school failed in an effort to transfer Luu for disciplinary reasons, his attorney was told that Luu was part of a gang.

If Luu returned to school, he would suffer gang retaliation. The district, Chen was told, did not believe Luu would be safe at South Philadelphia High.