The case of the “Jena 6” has brought national attention to a small Louisiana town. I have read many of the news reports about this situation, which seems to be a series of incidents that let the school spiral out of control. It began with a couple of white students hanging nooses on a tree after black students indicated an interest in sitting under a tree where white students traditionally gathered. That was followed up by multiple incidents of violence, both inside and outside the school, at least one of them involving a gun. In the middle of it all was a school assembly where the local district attorney waved his pen and told students that he could, “make your life disappear”. It culminated in a white student being severely beaten by several black students, some of them kicking him in the head as he lay on the floor unconscious.

Like most of us, I can only rely on media reports, but this reads like a textbook case in poor leadership. I’m not just talking about school officials. Local law enforcement, parents, prosecutors, and community leaders should have seen where this was going and taken aggressive action to prevent violence. Why did the superintendent and district attorney regard the “noose incident” as a “harmless prank”? This showed a profound ignorance of history and the psychological impact of that symbol. Not only should the noose hangers have been appropriately disciplined, this should have signaled to the community that they had a problem. This was a time to work on bringing students and adults together, to build bridges between the various racial groups. It was also a time to send out a strong signal to students that any type of racial harassment or violence would not be tolerated by anyone. The district attorney didn’t help matters at all. I would’ve been furious had he come to my school, made a statement like that, and then left me to deal with aftermath. He made things worse, not better.

A high school is a community, one made up of various racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. My own school probably has more students in attendance each day than half the towns in this state. If not properly managed it can erupt into chaos. The difference is that this community is made up of young people, physically mature but often emotionally immature especially when it comes to dealing with conflict. They need adult guidance from the school staff, parents, and the community. They take their cues from us and I’ll bet that many of those students were receiving the wrong cues. Why wasn’t the school bringing parents together and discussing ways to reduce the tension? Why weren’t those parents having these same kinds of discussions with their own children? Why wasn’t the school combining a zero tolerance for harassment and violence with programs that taught students how to respect others of all races?

We all know that teenagers also rely heavily on their peers for guidance. A few years ago in a previous school we had racial tension between two groups, with several fights breaking out on campus and off. Not only did we act swiftly to discipline all students involved, but we brought in the leaders of these groups to talk to them. I referred to them as the “heavy hitters”, the kids that other students looked to for leadership. If you win them over you win a lot of others along with them. We spent hours with six headstrong young men, working through past issues that had festered into hostility and violence. We made them listen to the other side. We showed them news articles about young people being killed in gang related violence. We may not have solved every problem, but there was a dramatic and noticeable reduction in tension on that campus. We continued to meet with them regularly to resolve issues before they erupted. Is there any reason Jena couldn’t have done something like this? Give me a day on that campus and I could identify the leaders. Use them to help get out the message….we ALL have a stake in having a school and community where people feel safe. NO student on this campus is going to be harassed or attacked without the perpetrator receiving a severe consequence.

With all that has happened in Jena the job is harder now, but not impossible. There should be no tolerance for racial harassment or violence. We are going to have school and any type of bigotry or violence is not welcome inside these doors. It’s a miracle that no one has been killed in all of this. There has to be a perception of fair and equal treatment for all and an atmosphere that brings people together. Racial issues still boil just beneath the surface of American life in a great many places. When you ignore them or deal with them ineffectively you get a Jena.