Incident at City Pool Will Not Change School's Procedures
By Paul Gingras

St. Ignace Area Schools doesn't plan to alter its procedures to allow out-of-state students to sleep at LaSalle High School in the summers. The alleged assault of an unsupervised 15-year-old lifeguard at the LaSalle High School pool August 4 by a New York youth is a city issue, said Superintendent Mike Springsteen, because the pool is operated by the city's Recreation Department. The alleged assailant was in a student group staying overnight at LaSalle High School on its way to Indiana.

Visiting groups must be approved by the superintendent, high school principal Don Gustafson, or elementary and middle school principal Bonnie Ledy. Visiting groups are student-based or nonprofit organizations en route to an event, Mr. Springsteen said. For example, the school has been used by Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups in the past.

In this case, it was used by the Vision Elite Drum and Bugle Corps, a part of the Brooklyn Music and Arts Program in New York. The group included approximately 49 students and six chaperones who were on their way to the Drum Corps International Regional at Michigan City, Indiana. They arrived at the school Tuesday, August 3, stayed the night, and departed the next day. No complaints regarding the group were made to the school.

School officials added that they do not require chaperones at the pool because it is under the control of the city. In this case, the students paid to swim, and they were supervised by the city-employed lifeguard, who was allegedly hit during an argument over the pool closing hour.

Mr. Springsteen said no one complained to him about the incident at the pool, and, therefore, the matter didn't reach the school board for discussion at its meeting, Monday, August 14. Most incidents of school violence don't, he added. Fights that occur on school grounds are usually taken care of at the lower administrative level. They seldom come to the attention of the school board, unless a repeat offender is slated for scrutiny.

But, if a group were to request accommodations on school grounds, and administrators were aware that the group had caused problems in the past, they would be denied, Mr. Springsteen said.

In this case, because the incident happened when school was not in session, and because the pool staff is under the authority of the city, the alleged assault was a police matter, Mr. Springsteen said. St. Ignace Police Chief Tim Matelski, after repeated attempts to contact the visiting band's assistant director, was finally successful in early September, he said, and was told that the students had not reported the incident.

The goal of the St. Ignace Police Department, he said, was to make the assistant director aware of what had happened so that the school could take appropriate action. At this point, "there is nothing further to investigate," he added.

The issue may have reached the school board if the police had contacted him, Mr. Springsteen added. Parental complaints are another way for such matters to receive board attention, and the board can also find out if a janitor reports bad behavior. In this case, only questions from The St. Ignace News brought the matter to his attention, he added.

Use of St. Ignace Area Schools' facilities by visiting groups is infrequent, he said, and requests are granted to make travel for students and nonprofit groups less expensive.

The district charges a small fee for each member of a visiting group, but the school is "not in the business of being a hotel or motel," Mr. Springsteen said. Groups are charged just enough to pay for custodians to clean up after them, and for increased utility costs. The rates rise if a given group requests access to showers or use of the cafeteria.

The LaSalle High School band uses this sort of arrangement each year when it travels to the Holland Tulip Festival, Mr. Springsteen said. Owing to the number of band members and the cost of motels and hotels, the band stays at Holland Middle School.