District Pledges More Student Control of Funds : Settlement: Officials will also investigate charges of insensitivity to Latinos.

School district officials have promised to give student leaders at Whaley Middle School more control over student funds and activities in the wake of disturbances earlier this month at the school.

They also pledged increased sensitivity to concerns of Latino students and activists who claim that Latinos are not given a fair shake at Whaley and elsewhere in the Compton Unified School District.

School administrators had withheld from students all control of student council funds, in violation of the state education code, district officials said. Administrators also violated state guidelines by failing to bank student-raised money promptly. Officials said the code violations were not intentional.

About $1,000 was kept at the school, said Razak Ayolla, a middle school financial manager. Other student body assets include $5,000 in the bank and several thousand dollars worth of merchandise in the school store. An additional $1,500 in the bank is listed as belonging to school clubs, even though most of those clubs no longer exist. The student council will be able to transfer money for nonexistent clubs to the general student fund, Ayolla said.

Many students also have said the school has too few student activities. They want to spend money they raise on projects and activities that will benefit them before they graduate, council members said. District officials said they planned to help the council organize at least one activity a month.

The pledges did not placate most students and parents who sat through a technical, sometimes obscure explanation of accounting procedures at a Tuesday gathering in the school library. The discussion briefly erupted into a shouting match involving parents and a district official.

“We’re not satisfied because they didn’t answer all our questions,” said student body President Tigress Briggs. “We don’t ever go anywhere,” she said. “We have no field trips.”

Officials said they would continue to meet with and address the concerns of disgruntled parents and students.

Administrators had no quick or easy solutions for other contentious issues at the school of 950 students, which is about two-thirds Latino and one-third African-American.

Latino and black students have accused a handful of administrators of treating Latino students unfairly. Allegations range from singling out Latino students for punishment, to failing to provide Latino students with cultural celebrations and activities that are the equal of those commemorating African-American culture.

Officials said they are investigating the charge of unequal punishment. Deputy Supt. Thelma Moore acknowledged that schools must persuade Latinos to join in activities now dominated by African-American students or develop other “high-profile, comparable activities.”

Some students also charged that school police were heavy-handed in restoring order during the recent campus disturbances, which included at least two demonstrations and a rock-throwing incident. Officials said they are investigating.