Judge tells Chicago to let students transfer

[November 17, 2009]  CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal judge says Chicago Public Schools must arrange for the immediate transfer of students who want to leave a South Side high school after an honor student's brutal beating death.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman's ruling Monday came in a lawsuit filed last week against the district by 11 students who say they don't feel safe at Christian Fenger Academy High School. Along with the transfers, the students want a judge to order the district to make Fenger safer.

Derrion Albert, a 16-year-old Fenger honor student, was beaten to death in September during a sprawling fight that was caught by a cell phone video camera.

Messages left for a district spokeswoman and lawyer weren't immediately returned.

[Associated Press; By KAREN HAWKINS]

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