Embattled Royal High School seeks ways to quell fighting

By Sophia Fischer
sfischer@theacorn.com

Two weeks after a major fight broke out at Royal High School in Simi Valley, school administrators are looking at long-term solutions to ease tension among students and prevent future conflict.

About 200 students, teachers and staff met last Thursday morning before school began to discuss the incident and ways to prevent it. Principal Bob LaBelle said that about 38 suggestions came out of the meeting, including the need to hold assemblies and classroom discussions on the subject of tolerance and respect. Also recommended was the use of food carts to relieve long cafeteria lines.

"We will look at all of the ideas and see which ones we can implement," LaBelle said.

On Oct. 13, a fist fight broke out between two groups of students a the school. About 20 of the students were suspended for up to five days. Police presence on campus was increased for the remainder of the week, and later, another student was apprehended and removed from the campus.

The students who were invovled came from a mix of socio-economic backgrounds.

"We met with each of the boys involved and their parents individually," said Don Gaudioso, director of secondary education for the school district.

To prevent further animosity, students were split into two 30-minute lunch periods, a homecoming rally was canceled, restrictive fencing used in campus construction was removed and the soccer fields were opened to give students more space.

"Things have definitely calmed down a lot," said senior Ashley Acosta. "It wasn’t an organized thing. A word was said that someone didn’t like, people took sides, and that’s how it started."

LaBelle said the split lunch period was necessary to cut down on student congestion and ease tensions, but the move was unpopular with some.

"Who got punished?" asked parent Janine Montoya, who has two children at Royal. "My kids can’t sit together for lunch anymore."

School officials got caught off guard when the fight occurred. Only later did they learn that there had been an altercation between two rival groups the previous weekend at a local fast food restaurant.

"If you can see these things brewing, you can jump in and do something before anything happens," said Sgt. Joe May, of the Simi Valley Police Department.

With 2,880 students, Royal has the largest student population of the nearly 30 schools that make up the Simi Valley Unified School District. In addition, the ongoing construction at the campus has limited the open areas where students can go during lunch.

Officials are hoping the violence is contained.

"We’ve kept the other high schools in the loop," Gaudioso said. "Royal’s principal met with the other principals. It seems to be specific to some of the kids at Royal so the other principals don’t feel the need to take any steps,"

Police promised to keep a closer eye on the school.

"There is an increased awareness of the sensitivity of what took place," May said. "If something were to pop up again we would take the resources we have and put them back in that location."