County Investigates Racial Ties at High Schools After Shooting

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich ordered the county’s Human Relations Commission on Tuesday to investigate racial tensions at Taft High School in Woodland Hills and Calabasas High School, the site of a race-related shooting incident earlier this month.

No one was hurt in the Dec. 4 shooting, but county sheriff’s deputies arrested six students from the two schools. The incident, which authorities said stemmed from a dispute between white and Korean students, prompted the Las Virgenes Unified School District to tighten security measures at Calabasas High School.

“Students and parents in the San Fernando Valley are shocked at a recent outbreak of violence, which apparently involves racial tensions between white and Korean students at Calabasas and Taft high schools,” Antonovich said Tuesday.

He directed the Human Relations Commission, a 15-member appointed panel set up to ease racial tensions, to work with students, parents and teachers to “develop an educational program that will promote improved relations among various diverse campus groups.”

Las Virgenes School Supt. Albert Marley said the district already has begun such an educational program. He said that, while Antonovich has not contacted him about the matter, “we’ll take all the help we can get.”