DATE: Wednesday, October 15, 1997           TAG: 9710150494

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, REBECCA MYERS CUTCHINS AND ELIZABETH SIMPSON,

        STAFF WRITERS 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  103 lines

WILSON HIGH CLOSED TODAY AFTER HUGE STUDENT FIGHT THREE PREGNANT STUDENTS GO TO THE HOSPITAL; 22 OTHER YOUTHS SEE THE NURSE.

Wilson High School is closed today while district officials and faculty discuss a Tuesday melee that sent three pregnant students to the hospital and 22 others to the school nurse.

Superintendent Richard D. Trumble decided to close the school after he met with teachers about an hour after a paper-throwing incident in the auditorium erupted into a fight that spilled into the school's commons area.

The 30-minute incident, involving more than two dozen students - some shouting racial slurs - brought 20 city police officers to the school to restore order; it went on long enough to ``to scare a lot of people,'' Trumble said.

There were no reports of arrests last night. However, police said charges of disorderly conduct and, possibly, inciting a riot were pending against one student.

The incident started among seniors gathered in the school's auditorium for activities and a meeting while sophomores and juniors used many of the school's classrooms to take a standardized test.

In the auditorium, at least one student threw some papers at other students out of boredom and frustration, Trumble said. Some students said that other objects were thrown, including at least one golf ball.

Teachers were told to show a video, but when the lights were dimmed, the altercation escalated to taunting, including racial slurs, and physical confrontations.

Students were pushed and knocked down and teachers were hit, Trumble said.

One student, police said, threw a trash can at another student.

A teacher was injured trying to break up a fight. After the teacher got the antagonist to the floor, he then had to protect the antagonist from other students who began to attack.

A city police officer assigned to the school called for backup, prompting the additional police and school security officers to rush to the school.

Kerri Albertson, Portsmouth Public Schools spokeswoman, said she heard that someone pulled a fire alarm, resulting in the school's evacuation.

After the students went back into the school, everything was still chaotic, one student said.

``People were running around jumping on lockers,'' said Wendy Bessent, a Wilson senior. ``It was like a circus.

``It was scary. Nothing like this has ever happened. Then they made an announcement for the teachers to go to the doors and direct students to buses or home. Some kids couldn't even go to their lockers. The teachers said, `Move, go home.'

``It was chaos. It was crazy. I'm afraid to go back.''

Her mother, Rhonda Bessent, said she already had decided not to send her daughters to school today, even before she heard school was closed.

``My daughters are 14 and 15 years old, and I'm afraid for them,'' she said. ``My heart was in my throat when I pulled up in front of the school and heard that there were fights going on.

``I went to that school myself in 1980 when it was Manor High,'' Rhonda Bessent said. ``I have lived all my life in this neighborhood, and to see it come to this, where kids aren't safe to go to school, it's a rotten shame.''

Albertson said the school nurse reported injuries ranging from bruises and abrasions to a swollen cheek. A couple of students reported asthma attacks.

The three pregnant students were checked at Maryview Hospital and released.

One boy was encouraged to go to a doctor for treatment of injuries to his head and face, but they were apparently not serious enough for him to be transported, Albertson said.

Hundreds of students were either bystanders watching the melee or among those trying to get away. Some already had gone to their classes when Trumble arrived, the superintendent said.

``I was here when school dismissed,'' Trumble said. ``I had a group of senior students. . . . Young ladies came up to me and said, `This is not our school. Our school's a better place than this. We've never had problems like this.' ''

Trumble said he heard from black and white students who felt that the incident was not racially motivated.

But he also understands that there is a group of black students who felt that white students were taunting them.

``If indeed there is racism in Portsmouth, how do we help youngsters deal with that?'' Trumble said. ``If you sense that it is really out there in the community someplace, how do you check that at the curb . . . when you come to school?''

Trumble said he was told that two girls reported they were held at knifepoint.

A parent of one of those girls walked in to talk to Trumble before he began an after-school meeting with senior class teachers and other staff members.

Detective Lindsay Disbrow, a police spokeswoman, said police saw no evidence of weapons. A locker-to-locker search after school did not turn up weapons, school officials said.

As of Tuesday night, none of the students had been charged as police and school officials continued to talk to witnesses.

Trumble said he does not expect the school to be closed for more than one day.

``We're going to work with the administration here to formulate a plan,'' he said. ``First of all we have to reassure the faculty. We have some faculty here that are upset, to say the least.

``And, of course, there are students and parents who are upset. . . . I wouldn't be a bit surprised if out of that plan may in fact come a meeting with parents, because we'll have to reassure them as well.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Police say charges are pending against one youth after a melee

involving more than two dozen students broke out on Tuesday. KEYWORDS: WILSON HIGH SCHOOL RIOT FIGHT

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