Bethel High School to add security as rumors about racial violence fly
Bethel High School will have extra security staff on hand today amid rumors that gang- or race-related violence might flare at the Spanaway school.
District officials say they haven’t found anything to substantiate the rumors, which began circulating after two racially tinged fights last week. But they’re providing extra security just in case problems surface.
In a phone call to parents Thursday, Bethel High Principal Wanda Riley said two deputies will patrol the school all day today.
“In addition to increased security, we have made it clear to students that we take a zero tolerance approach to fights and inappropriate language – including racially charged incidents,” she said in a written copy of the automated phone message. “We are taking every precaution to keep our learning environment safe and secure for all students.”
The concerns appear to have started when a black girl accidentally bumped a white boy during the busy passing time between classes last Thursday, district spokesman Mark Wenzel said. Words were exchanged between the two students, and the boy ended up telling the girl something to the effect of “Go back to your country.”
After talk of the incident spread, a fight broke out later that day at the school, with several white boys on one side and several black boys on the other side. During the fight, the youths struck each other and called each other racial slurs. No one was seriously injured, but the five teens involved – including the boy who was bumped earlier that day – were immediately suspended and remain out of school, Wenzel said Thursday.
The next day, on Friday, another racially charged fight erupted at school between a black boy and white boy. Both students were suspended.
Starting last Friday morning, the school increased security so that at least one to two Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies, who serve as school resource officers, were on the premises during the entire school day.
The school normally has two district security staff members on site, in addition to a sheriff’s deputy, who spends most of his time as a school resource officer at Bethel High but also covers other schools.
There have been no racially motivated clashes this week, except for the rumors that something could happen today.
But the school has been using last week’s incidents as a way to teach tolerance, Wenzel said. On Thursday, school administrators talked to every class about the fights, the extra security precautions, and the school’s expectation of student behavior, including respect for individuals’ backgrounds.
Earlier in the week, several administrators, including district diversity coordinator Nick Jones, met separately with friends of the black suspended youths and with friends of the white suspended youths, Wenzel said. Then the groups met together.
The goal was to engage the students in a “really honest conversation about race and civility,” Wenzel said. The school plans to resume discussions in classrooms next week.
The conversations will build on the school’s ongoing efforts to promote diversity. For instance, a student group called United Cultural Congress stages a diversity fair with performances every spring, Wenzel said. In the past, staff have participated in cultural diversity training.
The 10th- through 12th-grade school enrolls about 1,300 students; the student body is 10 percent black, 7 percent Hispanic, 8.6 percent Asian American, 4 percent American Indian and 70 percent white, according to the state Superintendent of Public instruction Web site.
Bethel 10th-grader Martin Amacker said students have heard rumors of a shooting today, but none of his friends thinks anything will happen. “I’m not worried,” the 16-year-old said.
Amacker said most Bethel students get along with people of different backgrounds, but he said certain teens hang out in cliques with their own race.
“Some people at our school are stupid. They have problems with different people,” said Amacker, who’s black and Korean. “They talk bad about other races … or yelling white power. … I hang out with anyone I can get along with. Most people get along.”
Debby Abe: 253-597-8694
