School’s In to Discuss Hazing

Two months after schoolmates beat an Orange teenager so severely that he was hospitalized, Portola Middle School is inviting its students to meet on campus--today, a Saturday no less--to figure out how they can change their school.

“If change is going to be made, you have to go to the people who can make the changes,” said Carolyn Reichert, Portola’s new principal. “If kids are not tuned in, it’s just not going to happen.”

Students will meet for three hours in the morning, then present their ideas to parents and teachers. Everything will be open for discussion, from ways to prevent bullying to more school dances to changing the physical education schedule.

The principal said the school may not be able to adopt all ideas, but each will be taken seriously.

Reichert, a 25-year educator, suggested the forum shortly after the Oct. 5 incident that landed Jeremy Worden, 14, at UCI Medical Center’s intensive care unit with a bruised spleen.

Three students allegedly pummeled Jeremy as part of an apparent birthday hazing ritual. They were arrested on suspicion of assault and suspended from the school. Two were officially expelled from the district by the board of trustees Thursday. The third alleged attacker is awaiting an expulsion hearing. Criminal charges are pending, according to the district attorney’s office.

Portola students say their school’s reputation took a beating too, with some parents in the working-class community afraid to send their kids to the campus.

Erick Valencia, a sixth-grader, said a friend’s parents recently decided against having their daughter attend Portola.

“Her mother said she didn’t like the school because of the birthday beating,” Erick said.

Erick, 11, is among 16 students handpicked by teachers and schoolmates to organize today’s meeting. Those chosen are seen as leaders in the school of 880 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.

A few of them gathered one recent morning to discuss Jeremy’s beating and the mood at the school. They said the violent birthday hazing was an aberration on an otherwise safe campus that has its share of conflicts and traditions.

“The eighth-graders make fun of us,” said Erick, complaining that upperclassmen sometimes taunt their juniors. “We tell them, ‘You were there once,’ and they get quiet.”

The students said kids celebrating birthdays did get light punches on their arms, a custom school administrators have cracked down on since Jeremy’s beating. But they say the practice should not have escalated as it did Oct. 5.

“I was angry about it,” said Brian Williams, 13, an eighth-grader who is a friend of Jeremy. “At first I wanted to get the kids who did it, but two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“Maybe they were mad at something else,” offered Kris Poole, 13, Brian’s friend and teammate on the school football team. “They had all this anger they held inside and they took it too far.”

It is that introspection and reflection Principal Reichert hopes will be evident in the student forum.

“I want them to expand their horizons,” she said. “We want to hear all ideas. It doesn’t matter what they come up with. Some of them may not even be logical or reasonable, but we need to hear them.”

Two members of the Future Search Network of Orange County will help moderate the students. The 5-year-old group of volunteers helps conduct similar forums at local organizations and in neighborhoods where members openly discuss issues that affect them. Portola is the first school to be visited by the group.

Priscilla Monserrate-Sanders, one of today’s moderators, said “when given the opportunity to participate in important discussions, children tend to be honest in looking at themselves, inward and around them, which is something adults can learn from.”

Reichert is a member of the network. She suggested the forum to teachers and students when she was hired this semester.

“The kids are very concerned about the public perception of the school since the beating,” she said. “When kids feel that they have a good school, they give better effort in academics.”

The students said they welcome the opportunity to be heard by teachers and administrators.

“It makes you think that they are actually trying to listen,” Brian said. “They want to know what you want.”

“Not just what they want,” Kris said.

The two friends, sporting similar spiky hairstyles, said they have already learned while interacting with other students as they prepared for the conference. The two eighth-graders gained a new appreciation for their underclassmen.

“They are not all that awful,” Brian joked as Erick cracked a smile.

One preliminary idea students suggested is to have a “Buddy Day” when older and younger students have an opportunity to interact. They would also like to form a student patrol to report bullying or other inappropriate activities to school administrators.

“This is not just a place for fun,” said Kris. “It is a place to learn and to interact with your teachers.”

Robyn Worden, Jeremy’s mother, said she is looking forward to hearing the students’ ideas. Her son is still unable to do strenuous activities, she said, and is being schooled at home. He is expected to return to Portola in February.

“That’s how you learn what is going on in the school,” she said from her home. Had there been such a forum before, “my Jeremy might have been able to speak up.”