Lewis and Clark tells parents of crackdown on ‘hallway behavior’ after Thursday fracas

Students at Lewis and Clark High School will see an increased emphasis on security and “accountability” in the wake of last week’s lunch-hour fracas that led to major police intervention and charges recommended for two teens.

In a letter sent to LC families late Monday afternoon, LC Principal Ivan Corley said that “during the next two weeks, our administrative team will be re-teaching expectations to students and significantly increasing accountability through the student discipline process.”

It’s unclear what form the new approach will take.

However, Corley also said that there would be “a specific focus on hallway behavior, loitering in bathrooms and respectful interactions with adults.”

The incident began late Thursday morning, when a group of students were harassing and pursuing another student in the ground floor hallway, according to a letter Corley sent only to staff.

Corley said staff attempted to stop the incident, but students continued to pursue the girl “and make threatening, mean, and harmful comments.”

Eventually the crowd of students grew to almost 100, leading to staff calling 911. Ten Spokane Police officers eventually arrived at the school.

It’s unclear why LC and the district waited four days to communicate with LC families, apart from those with students involved in the incident.

Late Friday, the district said that “building administrators evaluate each situation based on factors such as the number of students involved and level of risk to determine when to communicate with individual families versus communication to the entire student body.”

The incident comes during a period of strained relationships between the district and the police department. In March, Police Chief Craig Meidl accused the district of failing to report student violence. Shortly after, the FBI started looking into Meidl’s claims.

On Tuesday, Superintendent Adam Swinyard said that LC isn’t the only school making a late-year push to re-educate students about behavior.

“A lot of our schools are working to make sure that we have a really successful conclusion to the school year,” Swinyard said Tuesday. “That involves teaching expectations and being good students. We want to make sure that the climate and culture in the school is really positive.”

“And our principals are always wanting to be listening to teachers and staff and kids and families, to work in partnership with them and make that as positive as they can,” Swinyard said.