Rumors of violence hurt Fallbrook High attendance
By: JO MORELAND - Staff Writer
FALLBROOK ---- More than 700 Fallbrook Union High School students
didn't attend classes Tuesday as authorities tried to halt swirling
rumors of potential violence at the campus, authorities said.
They said that since the rumors began two weeks ago there had been no
violence at the school, no guns seized and no arrests, despite
statements by parents that their children had said otherwise.
"It's horrible," Assistant Principal John Deavers said shortly before 4
p.m. "We had about 760 absences today. It's going to cost us a
fortune."
Two to six sheriff's deputies have been at the campus off and on since
Thursday to check out daily rumors of fights, Deavers said, but there
has been little to report.
Several officials said that the weather has been great, the beaches are
nice, the prom is coming and some students just want an excuse to get
out of school.
Normally there are 120 to 200 absences daily among the 3,000 students
at the school at 2400 S. Stage Coach Lane, Deavers said. He said some
parents he talked with don't care if many of Tuesday's absences are
unexcused.
"It's hysteria, and the kids are spinning it," the assistant principal
said.
Acting Lt. Cliff Johnson of the Fallbrook Sheriff's Substation said
that as of midafternoon Tuesday the only fight in the area of the high
school was one off campus shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday at Old Stage
Road and Pippin Drive.
Five to seven black and Latino youths were reported in that incident,
said Lt. Dennis Brugos of the sheriff's Communications Center.
Two teens were taken into custody for questioning after that fight,
which appears to have been related to the suspension of some students
last week, Johnson said. He said he didn't know yet if there would be
any arrests.
Brugos said there was another report of a fight shortly before 3 p.m.
behind the school, but deputies didn't find anything.
Nancy Robb of Fallbrook said she kept her son, a senior, out of school
Tuesday because of what her teenage children have told her.
Her son will be back in school today, Robb said, noting that she felt
more secure when she saw deputies at the school as she drove by.
She said her son told her he heard there were three fights in one day
at the school, and that he saw blood in a locker area. He didn't see
any of the fights, Robb said.
Deavers said attendance has been dropping since last week.
That's when the violence rumors became rampant after fewer than a
half-dozen students were suspended because they refused to stop making
a disturbance in the school's cafeteria, Deavers said.
Those students have been slowly returning to school, and each day one
returns there have been rumors that the violence will happen, officials
said.
"This rumor's been flying around three weeks now," said Supt. Tom
Anthony of the Fallbrook Union High School District. "The kids just
want a day off. There's nothing unusual (happening on campus)."
Johnson said deputies are trying to find the cause of the tension and
the source of the rumors at the school.
It doesn't appear to be gang related, but there has been a history of
racial tension at the school, said the lieutenant, whose children have
attended Fallbrook High.
"We've been fielding calls all week from concerned parents," Johnson
said. "Based on phone calls from parents, I think some students may be
embellishing this to the hilt."
On top of everything else, Deavers said, there was a phone problem
Tuesday afternoon at the school district. People couldn't call in and
staff couldn't call out, he said.
.
|
