THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120452
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
When an armed police officer began patrolling the halls last month, some Manteo High School students felt threatened.
When administrators installed locks on the lockers for the first time in 11 years on Friday, some Manteo High School students felt distrusted.
When teachers banned book bags and backpacks from classrooms on Monday, about two dozen Manteo High School students walked out.
But when senior Ryan Buell was handcuffed, arrested and charged with disorderly conduct in the main office on Tuesday, at least 40 Manteo High students staged a sit-in on the school's front lawn.
Principal Linda Holmes said the 70-minute episode was the biggest student uprising since pupils protested the food in the cafeteria more than a decade ago.
``The last two days have been extremely frustrating for both teachers and students,'' Holmes said from her Roanoke Island office late Tuesday afternoon. ``We have great kids here at Manteo High School. And we do trust them. But there have been several new policies this year - and some of them are law. I can't change them.''
On Monday, the fire alarm was sounded three separate times and the entire school had to be evacuated during each incident. Later, an anonymous caller threatened that a bomb was about to explode. Students sat on the football field bleachers for more than an hour while the school was searched. Administrators later traced the call to the pay telephone in the school cafeteria. School officials disconnected public phones by the end of the day. Students said administrators installed blue paint in the fire alarms so that anyone who pulled them would be marked. Holmes refused to comment on that allegation.
Tuesday began in relative normalcy because Holmes had the fire department turn off alarms for a morning standardized test. But by lunch time, the now-familiar bell sounded again. Holmes had to evacuate the school four times for fake fire alarms.
Around 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, 17-year-old Ryan Buell showed up for school without a late note. When an administrator told him he would receive an unexcused absence, Holmes said, the student became upset. Buell's mother refused to comment and hung up the telephone when questioned about the incident Tuesday night.
Buell was arrested for disorderly conduct over an excused absence, Holmes said. ``It had nothing to do with the new policies, that I know of. But for some of the students, that might have been the straw that broke the camel's back.''
The county police officer assigned to the school did not make the arrest. Instead, Manteo town police were called to the scene.
At 12:20, Holmes said, about 30 students walked out of the school and sat on the front lawn. At first, she said, it was ``just a lot of loud talking.'' But the group grew. So Holmes went to investigate.
Students estimated that more than 100 kids eventually walked out - and sat in.
``We talked for over an hour about a lot of things they're unhappy with,'' Holmes said. ``I'm going to meet with 20 of them tomorrow to discuss their most important concerns. We'll discuss possibilities, give explanations, and see if we can work some of this out.''
This summer, a state grant financed one Dare County officer to work concurrently in Manteo High School, Dare County's Alternative School and Manteo Middle School. The officer is uniformed and carries a gun. He is supposed to act as a student advocate.
Students see him as an adversary.
``There ain't that much violence here. But they got cops in schools now,'' said senior Bernard Baynes of Manteo said after school on Tuesday. ``This place is a jail.
``This whole place is messed up. It's out of control. Kids setting the bathrooms on fire today. People pulling fire alarms. Teachers crying. Kids dropping out. It's crazy, man. The students have taken enough.''
Holmes said she thought students would like - rather than resent - the new locks. Although the school has had lockers since it opened, students have had to bring their own locks - or leave the metal wall units open. On Friday, the county finally financed standardized locks.
But now administrators know all the combinations.
``We have no privacy,'' said junior Noah Place of Manteo. ``They can search our lockers any time. We feel like prisoners. Then, they tell you to put your book bags in the lockers. Why? So they can search those too?''
The new ``no book bag'' policy was started for safety reasons, Holmes said. Teachers were tripping over the satchels while walking between rows of desks. Knapsacks became fire hazards.
So when the lockers got locks on Friday, Holmes saw no reason students should need to bring backpacks to class on Monday.
Book bags and backpacks also are banned from the cafeteria.
``One teacher actually tripped over a book bag and fell down,'' Holmes said. ``It's not that we don't trust the students. We're not looking for drugs or weapons. That is not the issue.
``But some students have not yet learned the difference between reasonable suspicion and probable cause,'' Holmes said . ``That's one of the things we're going to discuss tomorrow.''
Although many students outside Manteo High on Tuesday seemed upset about the officer, new locker locks and Buell's arrest, the book bag ban was by far the most frequently criticized new rule.
Every student interviewed resented that policy.
More than 500 signed a petition urging school administrators to change it.
``I took their petition to the school's leadership team of teachers and administrators. They discussed the policy. But did not change it,'' Holmes said. ``Then, the students took it on to the superintendent. But he upheld our request. And denied theirs.''
``We have no say in anything whatsoever any more,'' said senior Brandy Charity of Manteo. ``All these changes were uncalled for. And they won't listen to our reasons why we think that.
``The students say they're gonna do this sort of fire drill and stuff every day until we get our privileges back - or at least 'til someone listens.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
Manteo High School juniors Angie Banks, left and LaWanda Overton
were among the more than 500 students who signed a petition asking
school officials to rescind a policy prohibiting book bags in
classrooms.
by CNB