Tech Students Walk Out Of Class, Hold Protest

ST. CLOUD - A group of students held a protest outside of the St. Cloud Tech High School this (Wednesday) afternoon.

WJON reporter Isaac Schweer says the protest ended shortly after 2:00 p.m. A large group of students, mostly Somali, walked out of class in protest, because of several offensive incidents.

The latest incident had to do with a photo posted on the social media site "Snapchat" about an insensitive remark involving a Somali girl in a wheelchair.

District 742 Communications Director Tami DeLand says two students have been talked to about the incident.

Meanwhile, DeLand says Tech had gone into a "containment" -- which means students continued class as normal, but were unable to walk the hallways. DeLand says "containment" is different from a lockdown in that there was no present threat to the school.

Students were able to leave if their parents were picking them up. Otherwise, students were held in the school until the day's regularly-scheduled end.

DeLand says the administration will be looking into this latest incident as well as previous incidents involving similar conflicts in the school.

WJON has called in to Superintendent Willie Jett and also the Tech Principal. We're waiting to hear back from them.