Asian students praised for role in 2 Philly school settlements

Much of the credit for two landmark settlements to battle racial bias, Chairman Stephen Glassman told spectators at the state Human Relations Commission meeting on Monday, goes to people who weren't in the room:

Asian students at South Philadelphia High School.

It was the quiet power of their stories, born of violence and harassment, and their "extraordinary courage" and "guts" in coming forward that led officials to act decisively.

Once the students described how they were abused at school, "we knew we had to do something," Commissioner M. Joel Bolstein said.

The meeting was during school hours, so no students were present. But for an hour, the commissioners, staff, community advocates, and city school officials praised two nearly identical settlements announced Wednesday. The School District settled complaints filed with the commission and the federal government stemming from violence on Dec. 3, 2009, when 30 Asian students were attacked by groups of mostly African American classmates.

The settlements mandate broad changes in how the district handles complaints of harassment and violence.

"I'm glad we came to a settlement, but the work is just beginning," School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said after addressing the commission. "We have a lot of work to do."

It would be easy to read the federal settlement and conclude that it was 30 pages of legalese. In fact, line after line speaks directly to specific cases of anti-Asian harassment - none more loudly than that involving a Vietnamese immigrant student, Hao Luu.

His name is never mentioned, but provisions for translators and parental notifications help address what befell him in a case that began in accusation and ended with the district admitting its error.

"I think my situation might have had some effect, a little," Luu, now 18 and attending a different school, said during an interview.

Luu said he was glad the school had improved under a new principal, Otis Hackney, but said his harsh experience altered his life and disrupted his education.

The day before the violence erupted, Luu was followed after school by 10 to 15 students and beaten so badly that he vomited. The next morning, his grandmother Suong Nguyen went to the school and filed an incident report.