Rumors affect attendance at Fallbrook High

With racial tension high and rumors of impending violence running rampant, student attendance at Fallbrook High School dropped over 13 percent on Tuesday, early estimates show. With a student population of roughly 3,000 this translates into a one-day loss of well over $12,000 in ADA funds for the district, not to mention the effect the distress caused to students, families and school staff members.“Rumors were that there was going to be a big gun fight today between some Hispanics and some black students,” said one FHS student in a confidential interview Tuesday. “Racial problems have been a lot worse in the last week and a half on campus.” When asked why he personally elected not to attend school on Tuesday, the student replied, “Although I think it is just rumors going around, I felt the risk is too high. Personally, I don’t want to get hit by a stray bullet.” The student said ten of his closest friends stayed home from school Tuesday as well.

“I’m not sure if my friends were really scared or just didn’t want to go to school,” he remarked candidly. “But when you see cops on campus with loaded beanbag guns, you know something serious must be going on.”

Tuesday morning produced a solid break in the situation, said law enforcement authorities, when Sheriff’s deputies responded to what appeared to be a racially based altercation in the densely populated 1100 block of Old Stage Road, where a large group of high school students had gathered at a bus stop.

“We feel certain that this was the incident that was in the air,” said Sgt. Cliff Johnson. “This stemmed from a situation at the high school where a student was suspended last week. It appears to have been a reprisal stemming from tensions between different factions.” Johnson confirmed that deputies took two individuals into custody following the incident on Old Stage Road. No weapons were found at the scene. Johnson also stated that no guns have been found on students at the school.

“There have been bigger fights occurring lately between the Hispanics and the blacks and the Hispanics and the Indians,” said one male Caucasian student. The tension has not gone unnoticed by high school administrators and action is taken when information is received.

“When there are tensions on campus and they’re brought to our attention, we work to intervene and use ‘conflict mediation’ or ‘peer mediation’ to try and resolve personal issues,” said FHS Principal Ruth Hellams. “We do have a variety of races at FHS. We work hard every single day to address these issues, just as many schools do.” While the school takes a proactive stance on resolving these issues, students say it’s hard for teachers and/or administrators to see everything that goes on.

“I definitely feel threatened ,” one student, who asked to remain anonymous, stated. “They have taunted me during class on many occasions and disrupted my work. I’m a good student and not involved in problems. I don’t want the situation to get worse, so I just ignore it. If I dealt with it differently I’d probably have trouble outside of class.”

Sgt. Johnson confirmed his staff has worked closely with the high school over the past week to provide a safe environment amidst the disturbing rumors.

“The rumors have definitely been flying,” Johnson said. “We have had plainclothes deputies on campus the past few days — all day. At lunchtime, we have been sending in additional uniformed deputies just to maintain a presence on campus.”

“The police has been great and very supportive,” Hellams said. “We do have situations, but we deal with them as they arise. We will need to work with our community to learn more about all of this and how to best meet the needs of our changing and growing learning community. We will need to continue to work closely with parents and students to come up with additional solutions.”

Students have varying opinions about what the future holds for Fallbrook High in light of the increasing multi-cultural environment.

“Sometimes I wish I was going to high school somewhere else,” one student revealed. “The atmosphere of the school is generally pretty ghetto and is getting more like an LA school.”

When asked what he thought administrators or law enforcement agencies could do to keep the campus as safe as possible, the student replied, “I think they should do locker searches. They don’t do too many of those; in fact, I haven’t seen one done all year. I would also like to see Sheriff’s deputies on campus at lunch on a random basis.” A few concerned parents voiced that they feel discipline needs to be more stringent in regards to certain types of behavior. On Tuesday, some parents insisted that their students attend school regardless of the rumors; others chose to keep their students home.

“Parents need to do whatever they feel is best for their students,” Hellams said. “Some have sent their students to school, and others have chosen to remain at home. Many parents did contact us and I’m thankful for that.” One thing is for certain: in this day and age of tight school budgets, a one-day loss of $12,000 due to attendance issues is not desirable.

“This is going to set the district back quite a bit financially,” said Chester Gannett, assistant superintendent of business services for FUHSD. Gannett said the exact financial impact would not be known until month-end when all attendance numbers have been verified.

“Attendance is off, and I would ask that parents send their students to school,” Hellams said. “If there was an incident that mandated reporting of a large nature, such as a lockdown or natural disaster, I would immediately meet with site and district personnel and then implement a plan of parental notification.”