Saratoga News

Prospect High School deals with the aftermath of fight

Location contributed to the situation

By John Pancharian

In the wake of a brawl that broke out at Prospect High School March 3, school administrators are working to prevent such an incident from happening again and to correct the inaccurate picture of the event created by initial news reports.

"The cause of this thing was stupidity," said Deputy Ron Breuss of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department. "About how this started, I've heard everything from one kid didn't like another's rap lyrics, to there was something said before."

The fight took place at lunch time in a hallway bound by a bank of lockers on one side and a railing on the other, which separated the hall from a grassy area where students eat lunch. This location proved to be just wrong for a fight, Breuss said, because there was high visibility and no way for those in the area to easily evacuate. The conflict quickly attracted a throng of more than 100 onlookers on both sides of the railing and from both directions in the hall. As more students pushed in from the back, those nearest the fight were forced forward into the altercation, where they received incidental blows from the initial two combatants.

"The next thing you know, testosterone flows freely," Breuss said, "and there were 20 or 25 kids involved." There were no weapons used in the fight, although two students suffered dislocated shoulders.

School staff members broke up the fight--one staff member taking a blow to the face in the process--and eight sheriff's cars arrived after the scene had ended, but no arrests were made.

"We did high visibility to prevent further problems," Breuss said. "We went into the office and just supported the staff as they dealt with the problem."

Prospect administrators are dealing with the problem initially by suspending 20 of the students involved in the fight, but they are also looking for more permanent solutions. When the suspended students return to school, they will attend conflict resolution classes taught by mediators from the Santa Clara County Office of Human Relations. Prospect's dean of students, Margarete Roth, arranged the classes and commented that such fights are "something that we cannot tolerate and we're making sure it won't happen again."

"We don't anticipate any further problems," Breuss added, "but we're going to remain prepared just in case somebody's feelings were hurt and they decide to do something. We plan to monitor the situation from the station and assist the school any way we can."

There have also been numerous conversations with parents, reassuring them after initial reports of the event left an exaggerated picture of its severity.

"There are always going to be conflicts on campus," said Campbell Union School District Superintendent Bruce Hauger, "but it's unusual that something like this would happen." Hauger believes that a story in the San Jose Mercury News on March 5, which quoted him as saying, "I don't think it was anything out of the ordinary," left the impression that such fights were a common occurrence at Prospect.

Breuss concurred, saying he could recollect no other fights of this magnitude. He said early news reports also suggested that deputies were required to break up the fight, thus suggesting that the fight was more serious than it was. "It really upsets me because it paints a picture of the school that isn't accurate," he said, adding, "This was not any kind of a gang thing or racial thing. People just made bad choices."

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