A fight among a dozen students at Paramount High School’s West Campus on Tuesday involved some remarks that were “racial in nature” but that were “not indicative of a heightened racial tension at the school,” the school district superintendent said Wednesday.
In a statement posted on the Paramount Unified School District’s website, Superintendent Ruth Perez said the fight involved ninth-graders on the campus in the 14400 block of Downey Avenue.
“School staff, security and law enforcement responded immediately,” Perez said. “No students were seriously injured. Any reports to the contrary are false. The students responsible for this fight have been identified, and will face consequences in accordance with district policy and state law.”
Cell phone video of the confrontation was circulated on social media. NBC4 reported it was the second fight this week on campus.
“I don’t feel safe at all … I just don’t feel safe,” one student told Channel 4.
Perez said teachers, counselors, social workers and administrators were working together “to remind the students of the behavioral expectations that we have as well as the consequences.”
“As we have investigated this fight and related matters, we have learned that they result from small numbers of students behaving improperly and making inappropriate comments toward one another,” Perez said. “While some of those comments have been racial in nature, they are not indicative of a heightened racial tension at the school. Instead, they are indicative of this small group of students not being able to work through their conflicts the correct way. Regardless, this conduct is unacceptable, and the school and district are acting accordingly.”