Radford student expelled
By Johnny Brannon and Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writers
One student was expelled from Radford High School yesterday and another was suspended in connection with a series of altercations that began with a fight after a basketball game Saturday night, and police kept a high profile on campus.
Meanwhile, leaders of the school board and NAACP said they were extremely concerned about allegations that the problems were sparked or fueled by racial prejudice or tension between students born in Hawai'i and those from black families stationed with the military here.
During a meeting at the Bethesda Temple Church last night, about 40 Radford parents told the NAACP and a school board member that they see violence and racial insensitivity at Radford as ongoing problems that have not been addressed by the administration.
However, Radford Principal Robert Stevens said he believed that a small group of students who were trying to establish a gang presence was largely responsible for the disputes. But he said he did not believe that the school had serious problems with gangs or racial strife.
"I might be in denial, but I thought we were a school that celebrated different ethnic groups on campus," Stevens said.
He said there would be "zero tolerance" for any students who threaten others or exacerbate the situation. The goal is to avoid violence, he said.
"I'm not going to wait for that to happen," Stevens said.
Freshman Shane Shelton, 15, said he was expelled yesterday after using a racial slur and confronting a black student who was among a group that had surrounded and threatened him Monday before teachers intervened.
Shelton, who is of Hawaiian and Caucasian descent, said he does not normally use such language, but was angry that he had been accosted. He said he had not been involved in the fight Saturday, and had friends on both sides of the lingering conflict.
"I know I was wrong for saying that, but you don't come and surround me for no reason," Shelton said. "It came out today because I was angry."
His mother, Beverly Shelton, said she was upset that the students who allegedly threatened her son had not been disciplined.
"I really want my son reinstated, or I want those other kids punished as well," she said. "He should have been able to feel safe at school. I'm the first one to say that what he said was absolutely wrong. It's not acceptable, period, and I told him that. But what's good for one needs to go straight across the board."
School officials said they could not comment at length on the disciplinary action, but Stevens said the second student was suspended for several days.
He said the trouble first began when two other students got into a verbal altercation at a junior varsity basketball game Saturday night. They were told to leave the game, and fights later occurred nearby between groups of students. A few students from another school also were involved, he said.
Capt. Randy Macadangdang said police opened three misdemeanor assault investigations stemming from fights in the Radford student parking lot Saturday night.
Stevens said a 15-year-old African-American student who suffered a black eye in one incident that night had been an innocent bystander.
"He was on his way home, and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Stevens said. "He's a model student. Somebody cheap-shotted him."
Stevens said there were a series of confrontations on campus Monday, but no serious fistfights.
Police sent four patrol officers and two plainclothes special-duty officers to the school Monday to monitor activity. Yesterday morning a lieutenant, a sergeant, three officers and two specialduty officers patrolled the campus as school started.
Many Radford students are military dependents who live on the nearby Aliamanu Military Reservation. About 11 percent of Radford students are black, one of the highest percentages of any Hawai'i high school.
Alphonso Braggs, president of the Honolulu chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, last night asked parents and students to submit written statements of the events at Radford so the NAACP could conduct an independent investigation.
Braggs said the group had heard complaints from parents about racial tensions in other Hawai'i schools before the trouble at Radford. He said concerns about bullying, name-calling and fighting had been voiced by students and teachers of many ethnic groups.
"When parents call and say that they are not comfortable about safety and security in our schools, and they ask the NAACP to get involved, then we're here to see that some immediate action is taken and that these problems are immediately addressed," he said.
Breene Harimoto, state Board of Education chairman, said he is very concerned about the situation at Radford but wants to make sure all the facts are investigated.
"Wow," Harimoto said as the meeting at Bethesda Temple Church wrapped up. "I'm glad I came. There is at least a perception of racial problems, and we need to do something about that. There are so many issues here, I don't know where to begin."
The parents had a list of ideas: fire those who have allowed the situation to continue; integrate the faculty so that it resembles the student body; and provide cultural sensitivity training for faculty, students and security guards at the school.
"I've got a lot of things to look at here," Harimoto said.
Parents at last night's meeting said attacks against black students are frequent and ambush-style, and that school administrators often blame the victims for the altercations.
Mutima McArthur, a parent who attended the meeting last night, was among the parents who said violence against black students has been an ongoing problem.
Her two sons had been jumped by a group of boys and beaten with baseball bats last year, she said. "My kids came to Radford a year and a half ago. From day one, they've had problems."
At the meeting last night, the two students, Algin Haynes and Adrienne Peak, described walking toward the base housing after the basketball game Saturday, and seeing two trucks and a car pull up in front of them, blocking the road.
They made a break for it, heading back to the school and hoping they would find safety there. As they ran, people — some of them fellow students — jumped out and attacked them, they said.
"It was like an ambush," Peak said.
"When we got onto the school campus," Haynes said, "that is when it happened."
Haynes said a number of boys started hitting him. His friends were able to pull him away from his attackers, parents were summoned by cell phone and Haynes and another boy were taken to the emergency room.
Haynes still has a black eye and a bruised forehead. The other boy had a broken nose, Peak said.
Peak said a vice principal at the school and the security guards did not protect them and treated the black children like aggressors in the incident.
Board member Cec Heftel said that he did not believe racial strife was widespread in Hawai'i schools, but that the board must keep its eyes open and make the public aware of any important findings.
"We have to address the potential or reality of racial discrimination on some of our campuses," he said.
Staff Writer Peter Boylan contributed to this report. Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
