Cliff Buchan
News Editor

A special meeting of Forest Lake City Council and its Human Rights Commission stopped short of fully defining a future role for the commission or if the body would continue at all.

Three members of the city council spent better than two hours hammering away at issues and concerns involving council and the commission April 19. The three current members of the HRC, a seven-member board, met with council.

The session was contentious at times involving heated exchanges between Mayor Terry Smith, Council member Judy Bull and HRC Chair Dale Swanson. But much of last weekís meeting involved criticism of Forest Lake Area Schools and how racial incidents and diversity issues are handled.

Council representation at the session included Smith, Bull and Council member Susan Young, HRC liaison. Not present were Council members Dick Tschida and Rick Ashbach.

In addition to Swanson, commission members at the table were Jeannette Wallen and Jou Kong Thao. Two former HRC members, Dennis Kessler and Jim Heck, were on hand.

The special meeting followed council discussion last month that raised the possibility of suspending the commission for reasons that included failure to establish and operate with by-laws and failure to operate with a quorum of its seven members.

The board has been in existence since 2001.

HRCís role

Smith said the role of the HRC has been questioned in the form of comments from the public that have come to the city. Smith said he had learned of frustrations and concerns involving the ìlack of cooperationî on Swansonís part.

ìNo one knows where they are going with this thing,î Smith said of the role and function of the HRC.

Swanson said he, too, was frustrated by council and mayorís tone in late March. The chair said he was responding to being ìblindsidedî by the city over the possible termination of the HRC.

After four years of existence, Swanson said the HRC had not been confronted with any like concerns.

Swanson said the concerns have grown over the refusal by the Forest Lake Police Department and ISD 831 officials to share information on racial issues. The HRC has been rebuked in numerous attempts to further its role in possible racial incidents, usually involving school-age youth.

ìI hope you will understand none of this new,î Swanson said. ìItís not just a snapshot of today.î

He said there was a need to continue to probe human rights violations taking place in the school district.

It was such objectives of the HRC that were frustrating, Bull said last week.

ìI donít see the commission operating successfully,î Bull said, adding she was uncomfortable with Swanson as chair. Bull said her frustrations at one point led to her request Swansonís resignation and a new direction for the HRC.

The three council members said they believed new HRC commission members could be found.

School criticism

A good share of the discussion last week was aimed at ISD 831. Swanson accused the district of failure to cooperate with the HRC. He said he recognized the districtís right and need to protect student educational data but said the district was wrong in refusing to release public data generated from student incidents with racial overtones.

Not once in four years has the school district reached out to the human rights commission, Swanson said.

The chairman said the HRC has tried to follow channels but now feels the only way to pursue information on human rights violations is to use the cityís power of investigation.

Swanson said challenges over information could be made to the state human rights department and the state high school league.

ìThese are only last resorts,î he said. ìI am hopeful the school district people will reconsider.î

Jurisdiction?

Last weekís discussion also centered on the level of jurisdiction to the city had in such cases.

ìHow much jurisdiction do we have?î the mayor asked.

With the answer uncertain, Smith said he felt it best for outside agencies, such as the human rights department, to hear local complaints.

Swanson argued the city has an obligation and the police power to deal with all health and safety issues.

Mike Welch, the cityís prosecuting attorney, disagreed with Swansonís view of city authority over such matters.

Welch said the city has authority over all crimes but has no authority to tell the school district how to deal with matters involving possible human rights violations.

Chief of Police Clark Quiring has refused HRC requests for information when juveniles have been involved, under term of data practices. Quiring told the newspaper the department provides information to families informing them of HRC services should they be desired.

Other comments

Last weekís session was also a time for other residents to air complaints and most were aimed at the school district.

Moses Thao, a 2002 Forest Lake High School graduate, said he spent his high school years in fear and had few friends. He said he was picked on, pushed, spat upon and called a ìgookî by other students.

He was also the victim of a serious assault. The student assailant was charged and convicted of a gross misdemeanor.

Thao said the environment for minority students in Forest Lake was not good and teachers and administrators would do little to help or listen. Thao, who said he graduated early to escape the treatment, said he feared other younger Hmong students, including his siblings, would meet the same fate.

Two Hmong families have already moved from the area, he said.

Eugene Trottier, Forest Lake, said he and his children experienced many forms of discrimination as Native Americans in Forest Lake simply because of the color of their skin.

Trottier lobbied for cooperation between the council and HRC as a means to find the greater good in a difficult topic for society. ìThe more we fight the more we argue,î Trottier said.

But the Forest Lake man had a strong indictment of the school district, calling Forest Lake a ìracist hotbed.î He labeled teachers and administrators as ìracistî and in need of ìdiversity training.î

In his view, educators ìdonít know the full extent of what is going on in the community.î

He challenged the HRC and council to work for programs in partnership with the school district that enlighten students and staff on diversity issues.

Young agreed with the latter strategy saying it was important to learn from others and to take steps to help the schools. She said she would support funding to help provide speakers and videos to assist the school district with diversity issues.

What is next?

What happens next on the councilís part is not clear.

Smith assured Swanson no immediate decision would be made by the full council. It was unclear when the matter will again fall on the council agenda.

While Smith agreed with HRC comments that the agency needs to try to influence, it canít do so in a confrontational style. No one wins in the latter case, the mayor said.

ìWe all lose; the kids lose,î Smith said.

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