Student expelled
after Radford fight

Other school changes are being
studied after the Saturday incident

Radford High School has transferred one student from the school, suspended another and is considering changes on campus in response to recent student altercations.

Parents, military representatives and officials from the school and Department of Education met yesterday and discussed making sensitivity training available at the school amid allegations that race played a part in the student violence.

The school also is considering schedule changes that would increase control over students by cutting down on their free time.

"The main thing is that the lines of communication are open," said Board of Education Chairman Breene Harimoto, who took part in the meeting.

The school has revoked the geographic exception of a male student who lives in another school district, and he will be returned to that school, said Vice Principal Bob Frey. The mixed-race student, who is originally from the mainland, had used racial epithets on Tuesday in a confrontation at the school with an African-American student, Frey said.

Another student received a three-day suspension over Tuesday's confrontation but is expected to return, Frey said.

Tension has gripped the campus, which has a high percentage of military dependents, since a fight at the school Saturday night following a basketball game. Lingering animosity forced a lock-down at the school on Monday and extra security, which will remain in place through the week, Frey said. A school investigation is under way.

School officials and parents attempted yesterday to piece together the events of the past few days, "but nobody seems to know exactly what caused this," Frey said.

However, parents of some African-American students -- who make up about 11 percent of the student body, one of the highest rates of any Hawaii public school -- have complained that the school has a history of racial problems among students.

"Whether that's true or not, the bottom line is that if that is their perception, then we have a problem," Harimoto said.

Recent meetings on the issue have been "very encouraging," said Alphonso Braggs, president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"Some positive things are happening. There has been a very effective communication and healing process," Braggs said.

Frey said the school might try to head off further trouble by eliminating a daily free period in which students are released to seek tutoring, do homework or complete other tasks. That could last for a few weeks "until things cool down," he said.