DATE: Friday, October 17, 1997              TAG: 9710170655

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   98 lines

ANGRY PARENTS BLAME STAFF, SELVES FOR FIGHT AT WILSON AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING, ACCUSATIONS FLY.

Parents of Woodrow Wilson High School students arrived in force at the Portsmouth School Board's meeting Thursday night, challenging school officials to take back control of the school.

They chastised officials for letting a Tuesday paper-throwing incident escalate into a melee that required police intervention, for failing to protect their children, and for allowing trouble-making students to continue to attend school.

They accused teachers of closing themselves in offices during Tuesday's disruption, rather than taking control of the situation. And they said teachers and staff put their own safety before the students.

One parent, Tracy Mialli, took the bold step of asking the school's principal, William Gibson, to resign.

``He needs to be held accountable,'' Mialli said.

But not all parents pointed fingers at the school's teachers and administrators. Parent Scott Pease drew heavy applause from the audience when he said parents need to have better control of their children, and take responsibility for raising children who respect authority.

``Part of this lies with the parents,'' said Pease, whose daughter is a junior at the school. ``It is time we stop allowing our children to make school policy. It's time that authority and respect is brought back in the school system. This was not a black thing or a white thing or a racial thing. It is about respect for authority. And respect for education.''

Superintendent Richard Trumble informed parents that anonymous threats to bomb the school and conduct drive-by shootings were made Wednesday night, which he believes were attempts to keep the school from reopening.

He made the decision to reopen the school regardless. ``I will not give in to urban terrorists,'' he told the parents. But as a result of the threats, every student was searched before entering the school Thursday morning.

Trumble told parents that district officials are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of the children.

He said officials would address worries about large, open spaces within the schools and the need for more security officers. Trumble said he has placed an order for three stationary metal detectors, to enhance the searches currently done by wand detectors.

He also asked parents for the names of any teacher they heard had closed themselves in offices during the melee.

The school day proceeded peacefully on Thursday, which Trumble said is the first step back to a normal, and safe, school environment.

``The longer we treat this as a special event, the longer it will be a special event. Teachers need to get back to teaching,'' he said.

Tuesday's brawl sent 22 students to the school nurse and three pregnant students to Maryview Hospital, where they were checked and released. One 16-year-old male student has been charged with disorderly conduct in conjunction with the melee.

Seniors at the school had spent three to four hours in the school auditorium Tuesday because two other grade levels were taking standardized tests. The students grew restless and started some horse play, which later broke out into racial slurs and multiple, scattered fights. Students evacuated the building when a fire alarm was pulled, which caused more fights to erupt in the commons area. Police had to be called to restore order.

Parents took district officials to task Thursday night for letting problems brew over time, which they felt led to the brawl. They said the school is crowded, needs more security and enrolls too many students who don't want to be there.

One student, senior class president Elethia Shaw, echoed the concern of the dozen parents who spoke.

``There's a lot of kids who do not want to be there. They don't want to learn and they interrupt me from learning. They're just there to see their friends.''

She also said the school is short on district resources. ``We're the dumping ground of all the public schools.''

While many of the speakers said they thought the brawl transcended race, several said the racial undercurrent of the event needed to be acknowledged and dealt with. ``We need some dialogue on the racial tension,'' said the Rev. Rafiq Zaidi.

While several parents challenged the board to send home students who weren't in school to learn, school board member Elizabeth Daniels cautioned against tossing students from classes.

``They need to learn the basic information to survive,'' she said. ``They should not be given the choice of whether to learn or not.'' While she agreed that there is a need for more alternative and vocational schooling, she bristled at the idea of expelling students just because they oppose the idea of learning.

While most of the speakers were parents of Wilson students, at least one parent pointed out that the problem of school safety was not isolated to Wilson. Parent Linda Percifield told board members her 10th-grade son was jumped in a Churchland High School bathroom on Wednesday, the same day that the Wilson school closed to consider school security.

``Extra means should be taken to prevent this from happening,'' she said tearfully. ``Even if it means using additional funds.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Students at Woodrow Wilson High School wait in line to pass through

a metal detector Thursday. Many had doubts that extra security

would solve long-term problems and were uncomfortable in the

``prison'' atmosphere. See story on page A10. KEYWORDS: RIOT WILSON HIGH SCHOOL INJURIES

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