Fremont High Calls In Extra Security After Series of Brawls

A day after fighting between black and Latino students, extra security was called in Wednesday at Fremont High School to quell possible disturbances, and administrators attempted to reduce tensions on campus.

On Tuesday, five fights broke out among dozens of Latino and black students and grew into a brawl involving about 100 students. Administrators locked down the campus and dismissed students in small groups at the end of the day. There were no incidents Wednesday.

School police and administrators are trying to determine whether the fight was caused by gang rivalries or racial tensions.

This was the campus’ first such incident, said Carol Truscott, the local District 7 superintendent.

“It’s not the norm,” Truscott said.

As Fremont students took the California high school exit exam, Eddie Jones of the Los Angeles Civil Rights Assn. and Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Urban Roundtable met with school officials and held a news conference to discuss steps to prevent future violence.

“We asked for religious leaders, community leaders and government officials to create programs to keep these problems from happening,” Jones said.

He added that he doesn’t believe the fights were racially motivated.

“Honestly, it was a gang thing that turned into a race thing,” Jones said. “We’ve never had this Latino and black problem. But it started in the jails, it poured into our streets and now it’s spilling into our schools.”

Los Angeles Unified School District police and the Los Angeles Police Department, along with district youth and city human relations officials, were called in to help secure the campus Wednesday, Truscott said.

Administrators and counselors also met with students throughout the day to discuss what she said was likely an isolated incident.

“The school is very calm,” Truscott said Wednesday afternoon. “We’re confident that tomorrow will be even better.”