[UPDATE 10:58 a.m.] Enough Is Enough: Protest at Fortuna High School This Morning
Students at Fortuna High School are gathering this morning at 10 a.m. in a follow up protest to last fall’s walkout that spread through many Humboldt County high schools. On September 27, unrest at the Fortuna school was echoed at two other schools. Over the next three days, students at Eureka, Arcata, McKinleyville, South Fork, and Academy of the Redwoods held rallies. Protesters claimed that students had been victims of sexual assault and that school administration and staff were not responsive to the victims.
Law enforcement was called to the Fortuna campus last fall after vandalism during the protest.
Youth planning today’s protest told us that their concerns about lack of support from adults around situations of sexual harassment led to today’s rally.
As of 10:29 a.m., an alarm was set off at the High School. According to firefighters speaking over the scanner, the principal told them that the alarm in the science room was a false alarm.
UPDATE 10:58 a.m.: From the scanner, we know that at least a few Fortuna Police officers are at the high school. It isn’t clear if this is from an abundance of caution or if it is because of actions by the protesters.
UPDATE 1:20 p.m.: We have been told that the protest is no longer ongoing.
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What exactly are they protesting against, do they now want cops on campus? What are they wanting to take place? Curious.
“ Protesters claimed that students had been victims of sexual assault and that school administration and staff were not responsive to the victims.” Maybe they had listened to this: https://www.c-span.org/video/?517544-1/washington-football-team-work-environment
Most campuses already have School Resource Officers, partially funded by measure Z. They are well received by schools, and often praised for their service.
Spoken like somebody on the committee to dole out Measure Z funds, giving themselves a pat on the back.
Nope! Nobody likes a frikin tax. So, I pointed out where it was be well spent.
Ernie, they do not have any officers at South Fork High School. At this time, I am not aware of any sexual assaults. Have you been made aware of any?
“… lack of support from adults around situations of sexual harassment….”
Does not require cops on campus.
It does. What if it was your Child being Sexually harrased or worse? Grow the heck up there bug on a windshield
Cops don’t do anything about sexual harassment, they’ll barely do anything about sexual assault.
“Research suggests that family violence is two to four times higher in the law-enforcement community than in the general population.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/police-officers-who-hit-their-wives-or-girlfriends/380329/
Don’t blame the cops, it’s hard to arrest anyone when the victims will not follow through and actually press charges. You try and be a cop with your hands tied behind your back. Don’t complain and protest unless you’re willing to be proactive about yourself! Shame on the assaulters! But also shame on the silent victims.
Cops have never stopped sexual assault. Cops respond After sexual assault is reported.
The kids need actual sympathetic adults helping them learn grow and navigate this world.
Cops are not nor have never been a sympathetic ally to anyone except Other Cops.
So yeah get the Cops out of the schools.
The schools never wanted them ask mostcteachers! We could actually use music teachers art teachers schools nurses not cops.
“Cops respond after sexual assault is reported”
Obviously, or else they would just be picking up random people!
“Get the cops out of the schools. The schools never wanted them”
Really? And what were you smoking when this popped in your head? Read the facts, the actual positive numbers of the impact an Officer makes while on campus. Read the notes from FUHS Board Meetings where this decision was discussed at length! Then they met with FPD to make it happen. You can’t just make stuff up.
It doesn’t. It requires administration to take sexual assault cases seriously, expell the perpetrators, and turn them over to the authorities. You don’t need cops assigned to the school campus to do that.
Adamay, when there is a situation or report, regardless of whether the “adults” do anything about it, yes, I want the cops there. However, I’m pretty certain Pharmstheproblem was alluding to a permanent cop presence.
But their presence makes someone who is going to assault another student, hopefully think twice before they act.
Is it sexual harassment from staff? Students? Parents? I agree it’s pretty vague but a serious subject…
How obtuse. Do you think administration should NOT respond to reports of assault & harrassment?
Just asking a question, how many assaults are we talking about? What hasn’t been done that should have? What concerns?
I don’t know the answer to your question, but I would have to say that one is too many.
Are FUHS students protesting against lying? I thought I read 2 months ago all charges were dropped and the girl lied. Someone got their feelers hurt.
Oh really? Where did you read that?
Take that back , saw it on Mercedes-Benz Facebook page, definitely not reputable.
I’m an FUHS student who participated. The charges were dropped because no one would believe the victim. But he admitted to the sexual assault the first time. And now, he walks around school making jokes like “look out in going to rape you, I’m an assaulter” and the school does nothing about it
No he did not admit to it!
She had multiple versions of “her”story including calling rape, which she later retracted. She has done this to other kids in the past, they came forward to speak against her. This did not happen at school at all. He is the one harassed every day, he doesn’t engage. Everyone knows the truth and this small group of 15 minutes of fame seekers just want to be on tv.
Maybe you should talk to him and get the accurate factual story, but none of you will do that. Hearing the truth is no fun and you can’t get publicity that way.
he didn’t admit it? pretty sure this is an admission. i scribbled out his name for legal reasons.
But what was he admitting to? Maybe ask him what he was told?
It’s not what you think, and not what this girl wants it to be. How many people can she falsely accuse?lots of skeletons come out of your closet when you lie, and multiple people came forward speaking out against her.
Feel free to ask him if you really want to know the truth. It’s really easy to take texts out of context, and that’s what your doing. Next time your respond make sure you have all the facts and have spoken to all parties involved.
Bottom line the school has nothing to do with any of this alleged action,
Didn’t even happen during the school year.
Sorry your 15 minutes of fame are about up
Does anyone know if these accusations have been brought to the police? If so, what was their response to the investigation? I don’t know how valid the allegations are as I don’t know too much about the situation. But it definitely gives me hope for the new generation to hear them using their voices to stand up for the alleged victim(s?). I hope they’re heard!
Too many walk outs these days…No reason to disrupt the school and students again and again…It’s time to take action against students that miss classes and school…
Yep, sexual harassment is okay as long as the kids don’t miss any class!
I pretty sure you got my point. The students have already walked out and disrupted the school over this issue…
And nothing has been done about it so obviously it didn’t work. Why would we stop if what we are doing isn’t working
Iirc, last time this popped up, the Fortuna HS admin said they reported the incident(s) to the Fortuna police dept. The alleged crime did not occur in a Fortuna school or even in Fortuna.
Iirc, the police said they had not received any charges from the alleged victim(s). I don’t know if the school admin told the Sheriff about the alleged crime.
I prefer this approach of going thru the normal legal system (I.e. police, prosecutor, defense atty, jury) cuz it preserves due process.
??Its been quite here in Fortuna, last year they went marching up the streets.??
Quite quiet, perhaps ?
This is stupid, to protest something already illegal? Stay in school kiddos you may need it someday.
The truth is these girls didn’t get the outcome they wanted. They harass athletes and try to play the victim,
Their case was not valid, they had made up false allegations and they try to blame the school for the outcome. The school is not the law and nothing happened on school grounds or even during the school year. The fact that the media like kym kemp will even give this story life is a disgrace to the news and we should be teaching our kids how to be better honest humans. Enough is Enough!
If it weren’t for people like Kym, people like you would have no forum, and would be ignorant of what the hell is going on around them.
I’m beginning to think the non stop leaky faucet of news might have something to do with the problem
This is probably the stupidest thing you’ve posted here. Wait, it’s on your top 5 of idiot comments. You obviously don’t have daughters. If you did, you’d support these victims.
First off, in no shape or form would I ever condone acts of violence to person or animal! This to me is such a waste of energy. Facts being on the situation from last fall when a child (Yes and I mean a minor) was wrongly, publicly hung in your social media. Authorities were summoned, those who were witness to the alleged act were interviewed, cell phones were confiscated by authorities, the issue was brought into the judicial process and in the end, it was made evident that no such said act could have occurred. Here is the waste of energy, while misinformed individuals most likely motivated by the opportunity to cut classes are making a point to protect the innocent, what are they doing to the actual innocent? In America you are innocent until proven guilty and in social media you are guilty because everyone wants a “Like”. It also makes those individuals that make uniformed comments feel better about their sad and pathetic lives.
The trendiness of victimhood dilutes the voices of real victims.
So very well said, I’m putting this saying in my memory bank!
They protest because school administrators are not disciplining the abusers. These kids are fed up and standing up. We all know athletes get away with everything. That is why they abuse for the rest of their lives, college, pro, home, work. But hey, they give schools great advertisements when they score. Any press is good press, right?
This is either a student trying to act like an adult to justify their reasoning for skipping class today or a misinformed, shallow minded, stereotypical adult.
Oh my goodness! For real? I don’t believe you have any sort of facts to base your above comments on…. therefore I must conclude you suck at sports .
Are they wearing their masks? This is what matters.
I feel like this article has a lot of missing context. Was there, in fact, a sexual assault on campus? Has anyone been prosecuted for it, or caught? Is this an ongoing problem? What steps has the school, and local law enforcement, taken to deal with any cases that have occurred, and what are they doing to stop future attacks?
But what was he admitting to? Maybe ask him what he was told?
It’s not what you think, and not what this girl wants it to be. How many people can she falsely accuse?lots of skeletons come out of your closet when you lie, and multiple people came forward speaking out against her.
Feel free to ask him if you really want to know the truth. It’s really easy to take texts out of context, and that’s what your doing. Next time your respond make sure you have all the facts and have spoken to all parties involved.
Bottom line the school has nothing to do with any of this alleged action,
Didn’t even happen during the school year.
Sorry your 15 minutes of fame are about up