OXNARD : 8 Students Expelled Over Fight in Gym

Eight Oxnard High School students who took part in a brawl in the gymnasium in February were expelled from school Wednesday.

The board of the Oxnard Union High School District voted in closed session to expel the students for the rest of the school year, Supt. Ian Kirkpatrick said.

In addition, seven will remain expelled for the first semester of the 1991-92 school year. One of the students will be readmitted in the fall in an alternative education program, Kirkpatrick said.

Two additional students have been recommended for expulsion by a panel of district administrators that hears such cases, Assistant Supt. Gary Davis said. The board will vote on those cases later this month, he said.

Students who are expelled can either attend a county continuation school or try to transfer to another district.

The expulsions stemmed from a Feb. 27 fight that started among a group that had been sent to the gym to escape the rain. The fight escalated into a brawl involving at least 15 students. Police were called to the campus and 18 students were suspended, school officials said.

Some students who witnessed the fight said it was gang- and race-related, but school officials disagreed.

District officials said they could not disclose the names or grades of the students because of laws protecting students’ records.

In a typical year, 15 to 20 students are expelled from the 11,000-student, six-school district, Davis said.