Red Lake students have strong first day

By Associated Press

RED LAKE, MINN. -- Most of the student body at Red Lake High School returned to school for fall classes Tuesday in a sign of resiliency six months after a deadly shooting.

Principal Chris Dunshee said 272 students showed up for classes out of about 300 from the Red Lake Indian Reservation who are eligible to attend the high school.

Last spring, when school reopened about a month after the March 21 shooting, in which nine people and gunman Jeff Weise died, about two-thirds of the student body didn't show up -- and most of them stayed away for the rest of the school year.

"I think it does show that people are committed to their education," school board member Kathryn Beaulieu said of Tuesday's turnout.

Though school officials were still working out kinks with scheduling and classes, Dunshee reported a calm and uneventful morning Tuesday. "It seems to be going pretty well so far," he said. "We've got a lot of kids in the building; we just need to get them in the right place."

However, he added, "I'm a little anxious, probably due to trying to make sure that everything goes smoothly."

Jeff May and Steve Cobenais, who were severely injured in the shooting and are continuing to recover, were not at school for morning classes, Dunshee said.

Tuesday morning, students filed off their buses and moved quickly through metal detectors inside an entryway at the school.

Pat Graves, Red Lake's acting public safety director, said guards and police were trying to make students as comfortable as possible. "I think it's a good system," he said.