10 Minn. high schoolers suspended after shouting incident

Ten students at Coon Rapids High School have been suspended after comments made on Facebook escalated into a shouting match in a school stairwell.

Anoka-Hennepin School District spokesman Brett Johnson said the students were suspended for either three, five or 10 days. He wouldn't say exactly what was said online only that it would not have been acceptable in a classroom.

"There were kids who were clearly targeted, but those same kids at different points were also targeting other kids," Johnson said. "Kids were saying things back and forth, and it wasn't a clear or classic bully-victim situation."

Johnson said the district responds to online issues whenever they disrupt the school environment.

He also said this incident had nothing to do with gay or lesbian students. The district currently has two pending lawsuits over the treatment of LGBT students.

The school blocks Facebook on its computers, but Johnson said students were still able to add comments using smart phones.

The suspended students included eight boys and two girls; seven of them were 12th graders, three were in 11th grade.