Hueneme High Brawl Leads to Arrest of 2 Youths, Man : Oxnard: A lunchtime confrontation leads to an after-school fight between Latino and black students. The clash occurred despite the presence of police.

Two days of racial tensions at Hueneme High School erupted Wednesday in a lunchtime confrontation between hundreds of black and Latino students that culminated in an after-school brawl and the arrests of two youths and a man, authorities said.

Oxnard police arrested a 15-year-old Oxnard boy for fighting, and a 15-year-old girl suspected of assaulting another youth with a brick. The names of the juveniles, both Hueneme High students, were withheld because of their ages.

Police also arrested 19-year-old Israel Martinez of Oxnard for failing to leave the scene of the fight when commanded by police. Martinez is not a student, police said.

The troubles began Tuesday, school officials said, when a fight broke out between a Latino and black student at the predominantly Latino school.

“They lit the fuse yesterday and it blew up today,” said 17-year-old senior Phillip Trank.

Fearing problems, Principal Joanne Black ordered more teachers than usual to patrol the grounds during lunch Wednesday, Hueneme High science teacher John Grenfell said.

About 12:35 p.m., 15 minutes into the school’s lunch period, a group of 100 to 150 Latinos and 75 to 100 blacks confronted each other in the school quadrangle, Grenfell said.

“Brown students were posturing in one area and black students were posturing in another area,” separated by only about 15 yards, Grenfell said.

After about 10 minutes, while about 25 teachers were trying to halt the confrontation, all of the students in the quadrangle began running toward the west edge of the campus where a skirmish had broken out between a black and Latino student, Grenfell said. “It was like a stampede,” he said.

The bell to end the lunch period was rung early, which sent students back to class. Principal Black then made plans to clear the campus immediately after school, announcing that students should not stay for the usual after-school homework sessions.

Police were called as a precaution about 2 p.m.

Despite the police presence, about 30 to 40 black and Latino students got into a brawl in front of the school, with a few hundred other students looking on about 2:45 p.m., shortly after school ended, police and school officials said.

To avoid further problems today, Supt. William G. Studt said police officers will be on the campus during school hours.

“We’re going to hope this was an isolated event,” Black said.

There have been racial incidents over the last few years at other Oxnard Union High School District campuses. But the last major racial disturbance at Hueneme High was at least 10 years ago, Grenfell said, when a group of whites had a confrontation with some Latinos.

Since about 1980, the number of Latinos at the school has grown from about half to roughly 70% of the 2,400 students, Grenfell said, while blacks make up only about 5% of the student body.

“I have no idea why those particular groups would be going after each other,” he said. “It’s upsetting.”

Although some students said the fights Wednesday were gang-related, police said they were investigating whether gangs were involved.

Hueneme High senior Ephraim Chavez, 17, said many students were just as upset as school officials over the incidents.

“It stereotypes all of us as racists or gang members when most of us weren’t even involved,” Chavez said.