UPDATE: An investigative team, including Fortuna and Eureka detectives, arrested a 16-year-old girl in connection with a threat made via social media that a shooting would take place at Fortuna High School Thursday afternoon and another threat made against Eel River Community School. According to the Fortuna Police Department, the team “developed information” that identified […]
Fortuna High School
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Teen Arrested After Threat Locks Down Fortuna High
A 13 year old was taken into custody on suspicion of making criminal threats for allegedly sending a skull emoji with the message, “Gonna light up the school at 12:10,” to a group of Fortuna High School students, leading to a full campus lockdown Thursday afternoon. According to the Fortuna Police Department, the image was […]
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Fortuna High Teacher Charged with Four Felonies in Molestation Case
The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office has filed an eight-count criminal complaint against Fortuna Union High School teacher Gary Landergen, charging him with four felonies and four misdemeanors based on allegations that he sexually assaulted three 15-year-old girls over a four-day span this year. Landergen, who teaches math and coaches athletics at Fortuna High School, […]
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Third Student Alleges Inappropriate Behavior by Fortuna Math Teacher
Another Fortuna High School student has come forward to make allegations against the math teacher arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sexually assaulting two students. Gary Landergen, who’d returned to Fortuna High School this year, where he’d previously taught in the 1990s before leaving for Argonaut High School in Amador County, was arrested on a Ramey […]
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Students Stage Walkouts on Three Local Campuses to Support Sexual Assault Survivors
Students walked out of class on at least three Humboldt County high school campuses this morning to stand in solidarity with survivors of sexual assault. Most wearing white and many holding signs, students at Fortuna, Eureka and McKinleyville high schools participated in the planned walkouts, with Fortuna and McKinleyville students marching the streets surrounding their […]
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Of Basketball and Role Models
The first time I met Jain Tuey, she was starting her freshman year at Fortuna High School, where I was teaching. After work, I ran into her dad Skip at Safeway and we chatted. The whole time, Jain was holding a basketball against her hip, impatient and glaring at me in her T-shirt and sweatpants. […]
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‘Staff Challenges’ Amid Quarantines Has Fortuna High School District Classes Going Virtual
Fortuna Union High School District campuses, including Fortuna High School, East High School and Academy of the Redwoods, will switch to distance learning starting tomorrow and running through Feb. 5 due to what the district described as “staff challenges” due to quarantines. “All classes will meet virtually at regularly scheduled time,” the post states. “There […]
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The Death of Leo Gallagher
These three headlines tell a story: “Ferndale Invades Fortuna,” Humboldt Times, Nov. 3, 1928. “Fortuna High Student Dies after Football Accident,” Humboldt Times, Nov. 5, 1928. “Leo Gallagher Funeral Held,” Humboldt Times, Nov 7, 1928. I’d heard of a period when there was no football at Fortuna High School due to the death of a […]
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Fortuna Union High School District Will Continue In-Person Classes
The Fortuna Union High School District decided to continue to offer three learning options, distance learning, in-person and independent study, for its students at a board of trustees meeting on Monday, Nov. 16. “The board would like to keep these options open for our students and clearly stated that it was the community’s responsibility to […]
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Second Fortuna High Student Tests Positive for COVID-19
According to a press release this evening from the Fortuna Union High School District, a second student has tested positive for COVID-19. The message from Superintendent Glen Senestraro states neither this case nor the one announced to parents Thursday was transmitted on the high school campus. The school, it says, is following guidance from Humboldt […]
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Student Tests Positive for COVID-19 at Fortuna High School
Amid a record-breaking week that saw 53 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Humboldt County, Lost Coast Outpost is reporting one case has a number of students at Fortuna High School quarantining. According to the post, parents of FHS students received phone messages from school administrators last night letting them know “a student at Fortuna High […]
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Born Too Soon
When I was a kid, boys rode their Schwinns around Humboldt County neighborhoods, sneaked through the alleys and climbed on Main Street rooftops at night; they played pickup baseball games at the park in the summer. Each town had a sliding hill for cardboard on the dry grass, basketball courts and open gyms in Samoa […]