Menominee Indian High School officials cancelled homecoming for 2013, which caught the Menominee Indian School Board — and the community — off guard.
Administrators were asked by board members Monday for an explanation of why they opted to eliminate the annual fall event without at least informing the board. Several board members reported they had been approached by angry parents and had no idea homecoming had been cancelled.
Principal Leslie Shawanokasic said the high school has been wrestling with the issue of homecoming since 2003. She said she and others in the community have been the victims of pranks and vandalism during homecoming, and there have been a number of hazings and physical assaults.
“They’re taking the pranks too far, where it’s vandalism,” Shawanokasic said, noting police have had to be notified in many cases. “Homecoming at Menominee Indian got out of control.”
Paul Schwaller, the high school’s Freshmen Academy principal, told the board that the number one concern for freshmen was being victimized by upperclassmen during homecoming. Schwaller and other speakers told of incidents where students have been paddled by other students, kidnapped and stuffed into vans, and bound to trees with plastic wrap.
“The kids have taken it on as a culture, accepting it when it shouldn’t be accepted,” Schwaller said. “They shouldn’t have to feel fear about the hazing we go through each year. If students don’t feel safe, adults need to take some kind of role and make them feel safe during the school year.”
School officials met over the summer to discuss the matter and ultimately decided not to have a homecoming, at least in the traditional sense. Shawanokasic said the school is looking to incorporate homecoming activities, such dress-up days, into the year-end pow-wow, which honors seniors as they prepare to graduate.
School officials said the only way they would reinstitute homecoming during football season is if students accept that the activities must stay in the school and not affect the reservation in any way.
Officials also said student behavioral referrals declined significantly this fall, at least partly because homecoming festivities were cancelled. Shawanokasic said behavioral referrals dropped from 46 and 118 last September and October, respectively, to 15 and 45 this year.
Deb Lyons, a grandparent of a high school senior, however, criticized the administrators’ decision. She said the issue should have been discussed openly by the School Board.
“I am really upset and disgusted by this situation,” Lyons said. “I’ve been out in the community and talking with people. They’re not in favor of it.”
District Administrator Wendell Waukau said he plans to convene a community forum within the next 30 days to look at the homecoming issue.
“What I’ve learned from this is we could have done a better job of educating people of why this change is happening,” Waukau said. “We’re taking responsibility.”
Board members indicated they were in favor of bringing back homecoming, but student safety had to be a higher priority than keeping with tradition.
“We’re here for our students’ safety,” board president David Miller said. “The administrators report to the School Board, and we charge them with having a safe and good learning environment.”
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