Star Tribune
St. Paul students return to Harding High after fatal stabbing
Students trickled back into St. Paul’s Harding High School on Friday, returning to class as a district administrator held a briefing outside to note new security measures — and amid calls from educators for more action on school safety concerns.
Students had been out since sophomore Devin Scott, 15, was stabbed Feb. 10 by another student in a hallway. It was the middle of his first day at the East Side school.
Scott died a short time later at Regions Hospital. On Tuesday, Nosakhere K. Holmes, 16, was charged in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree unintentional murder.
District officials responded to last week’s stabbing by having police officers stationed outside five high schools and adding a third school support liaison to Harding’s security team. On Thursday, the district also announced new rules limiting how kids enter and move about a building that holds more than 1,700 students and staff members.
As students returned Friday, Assistant Superintendent Nancy Paez reiterated some of the new procedures at a news conference.
“This is going to be a good day at Harding,” she said.
The St. Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) posted a letter on Facebook Thursday stating that board members and administrators had been made aware of issues involving the school’s safety climate by parents and educators, and that many of those calls and emails went unanswered.
“These events are the tragically avoidable and inevitable result of inadequate SPPS school climate policies and the refusal to listen to staff and community on how to address problems before they escalate,” the union said in its letter. It urged the school board to call an emergency meeting to hear from students, staff and community members.
When asked to comment Friday on the union’s contention that the tragedy could have been avoided and more done at Harding, Paez declined, saying, “Not at this time.”
Louis Francisco, an instructional coach who has been at Harding for 31 years, and is a graduate, too, said it had been a tough six days and there was no blueprint for how to cope with the aftermath of such violence.
“Teachers came together,” he said, “planning and grieving at the same time.”
The state’s second-largest district cut ties with school resource officers (SROs), in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police. They were replaced with 38 school support liaisons who are not armed but carry pepper spray and handcuffs. This week, Superintendent Joe Gothard said he is open to discuss adding SROs in new roles.
In its announcement Thursday night, the district said Harding’s new protocols are designed to “create a safe environment for all.” The rules state:
- Students who are late must enter through the main entrance, where they will receive a pass and will have five minutes to report to class.
- Increased hallway supervision will be in place, and students cannot access hallways during class time without a chaperone.
- Students will be escorted to the bathroom and bathrooms will be supervised.
Paez said the new measures would be enforced through at least the coming week.
“If we are obtaining the outcomes that we want for the changes, we will adjust as necessary or extend [them],” she said.
At the end of the day, a district spokeswoman said just over half of Harding’s students attended school Friday, and staff reported that those who were there were glad to see their friends and teachers again. The shortened school day focused more on support for students than academics, she said, and additional staff will be at Harding through next week.
Last week’s fatal encounter occurred in a hallway between classes. According to the juvenile petition filed Tuesday, Holmes had words with Scott, the two started fighting, and a third student punched Holmes, too, before staff members intervened. Then, Holmes advanced toward Scott, swinging a knife at least twice, the petition said.
In its letter, signed by more than 600 educators before it was posted, SPFE said board members had been silent on climate issues since they learned in November of a $1 million federal grant aimed at identifying the root causes of school violence — and, in turn, get students the help they need before they harm themselves or others.
The grant application cited an increase in the “prevalence and seriousness” of violent incidents in St. Paul schools in 2021-22 but gave no specifics.
At Harding on Friday, students met in grade-level assemblies and were to remain in their advisory class for most of the day. Members of the district’s crisis team also were on hand to support students. Harding will resume its normal schedule Tuesday.
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
REDWOOD FALLS, MINN. – A truck crashing into a school bus left nine with minor injuries Wednesday morning in rural Redwood County, a statement from the Redwood County Sheriff’s office said.
The bus driver, serving the Wabasso Public School District, failed to yield when entering the intersection of County Road 7 and 280th Street, the statement said.
Deputies received word of the crash around 8:15 a.m. and identified the bus driver as Edward Aslesen, 72, of Milroy.
The nine injured passengers on the bus were transported to local hospitals, the statement said.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings