PRINCETON — Picketers protested alleged racism and harassment Monday at Princeton Senior High School as parents took their children out of class in the wake of bomb threat and gun rumors.
About half a dozen or more picketers at a time stood along the Stafford Drive sidewalk across from the school to call attention to problems they said their children had been experiencing.
The group’s representative, Sean Harris, 35, of Princeton said problems pertaining to several students had been ongoing since September 2007.
“There’s a white gang, white supremacists who call themselves the C.W.B., and they’re targeting the weaker Africian-American kids at Princeton Senior High,” said Harris. “On Thursday it was brought to my attention that one of the gang members made a racist comment to my little girl who’s at the school. On Friday she was hit on the shoulder with a blunt object and nothing’s been done about it.”
Harris said he believes only a few students were actually involved in harassment.
“The bottom line is this is a racial problem. It’s not the whole school. It’s 10 or 15 of them, and what has been a problem is becoming a disruption for all of them, and it’s not right,” he said. “If nothing is resolved today we will definitely be here tomorrow.”
Officers with the Princeton Police Department and West Virginia State Police were at PSHS as a precaution after rumors started circulating about bomb threats and threats concerning guns. Students and their parents were lined up outside the school’s central office by noon to check out for the day.
Chief W.T. Harman of the Princeton Police said that his department had not received any threats against the school, adding he had received calls from departments in other counties about shootings which never actually took place.
“There was no credible threat as far as I know,” he said. “There was no formal threat, no call. It’s just a rumor that escalated into nothing.”
Specially trained dogs with the State Police searched the building, said Assistant Superintendent Don White.
“None of these rumors have been substantiated. Dogs and crews with the West Virginia State Police were here and they found absolutely nothing,” White said.
Harris said that threats to bring guns to the school were posted on the Internet on the popular website MySpace. Word about bomb threats and gun threats spread quickly over cell phones and text messages.
Mercer County Board of Education President Greg Prudich said action will be taken if the threats’ source was found.
“One of the things we let kids know is that if it can be traced, it will be dealt with. We can’t tolerate racism, we can’t tolerate violence, we can’t tolerate bomb threats,” Prudich said. “When we discover who sent it, they’d better get an attorney.”
Approximately 184 students were left in class at the end of the school day, Prudich said. A exact number of students who were absent for other reasons such as illness was not available.
Principal Dr. Stephen Akers said the alleged incidents had not been ignored and were being investigated. Prudich, who visited PSHS Monday, agreed that the allegations were being addressed and involved only a small number of students.
“If it is about race and we know about it, there are going to be actions taken,” Prudich said.
“We’re in solution seeking mode, we’re talking to community leaders and we’re going to be taking whatever efforts we can in order to try and resolve the issues,” Prudich said. “In talking to people, the consensus is that it is not a schoolwide problem. I think we’re talking about a handful of students; 10, 12, maybe six, maybe eight.”
Solutions include guiding students in question to peer mediation and appropriate adults to resolve differences, Prudich said.
“We will try to reach a solution that benefits everyone and makes kids feel safe,” he said.
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Local News
March 17, 2008
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