Expulsion Sought in Fatal School Fistfight

As police continue to investigate the fistfight at a Palmdale intermediate school that left a 13-year-old student dead, community members called Monday for the immediate expulsion of the surviving 14-year-old boy.

Some residents also criticized school officials for dismissing race as a possible motive in the fight at Juniper Intermediate School. Stephan Corson, who is black, died Friday after the fight with another eighth-grade student, who is white.

Although the cause of the fight remained under investigation, Palmdale School District Supt. Nancy Smith said race was not a factor. None of the witnesses, she said, heard racial slurs.

“There’s no reason to believe that race was a factor,” Smith said Monday.

But John McDonald, a professor of African American history and literature at Antelope Valley College and a member of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Committee’s Hate Crime Task Force, said it is too soon to draw any conclusions about what started the fight.

“It may or may not be racial,” said McDonald, a member of the Antelope Citizens Committed to Equality in Society and Scholarship. “But with the Antelope Valley having had problems with racial differences, we cannot rule it out.”

Smith said the 14-year-old student, who was not identified because of his age, has been suspended until Nov. 30.

At that time, she said, school officials will decide whether to extend the suspension and schedule a hearing. “This child is being treated like any other child,” Smith said.

Investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department interviewed the boy before releasing him to his father Friday night.

Conflicting reports have emerged about whether Corson died because of a blow to the head or because he fell and hit his head on the sidewalk. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office said the cause of death will not be known for several weeks.

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said that while there may be sharp racial divisions in Antelope Valley, “diversity is pretty strong in the schools. You see segregation among kids out of school. But in the schools, especially the middle schools, there’s no real segregation.”

Corson and his mother moved to Palmdale from the San Fernando Valley less than a month ago, officials said. Before the move, Corson attended Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills, where counselors met Monday with about 30 grieving students.

“Some of them had just found out that he died,” said Barbara Burson-Turner, a counselor. “Some of them remembered him from elementary school.”

Funeral services for Corson will be held at 7 p.m. today at First Baptist Church, 20553 Sherman Way, Canoga Park.