Share this article:
Print

Students claim recent fight at RHS started with racial slur

Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

by KREM.com

Posted on November 11, 2009 at 12:14 AM

Updated Wednesday, Nov 11 at 3:43 PM

******

SPOKANE-- Two fights broke out at Rogers High School last Thursday, sending one student to the hospital.

Parents and students are upset. They say not enough is being done in the wake of those fights. One fight happened inside the school, and the other fight took place just outside of the school.

The school district says the fights were not gang related, but students say at least one of the fights was racially motivated. Video of the fight shows one student punching another in front of a crowd inside a school hallway. The victim ended up on the floor, and was eventually take to the hospital and released.

A sophomore tells KREM 2 News the fight started Thursday after the victim yelled a racial slur at the other student. Since then, rumors have flooded the hallways about more violence, including one about a gun threat.

Some students told KREM 2 News they were afraid to come to class Friday.  School officials say about half a dozen students were punished with some kind of suspension for fighting or watching the fights Thursday. The district investigated the rumors of violence, saying they were untrue, and students are safe at school.

Wendy Bleecker with the Spokane Public School District says the district wants to work with the community and if there are rumors going around they need to know about it so they can get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, the school is reinforcing truancy policies put in place at the beginning of the year, that keeps students out of the hallways and in class.

The district says there have been less fights at Rogers this year compared to this time last year.

Share this article:
Print

To add a comment, please register or login.

Leave your comment
1000 characters remaining

Submit

We welcome your comments on this story's topic. Off-topic comments, personal attacks, and inappropriate language may be flagged and removed, and comment privileges blocked, per our Terms of Service. Thanks for keeping the comments space respectful.

Privacy Policy

HTML is not allowed.

You have indicated this comment should be removed.

Close

The comment has been submitted for review. Thank you .

casanovafrankens said on November 11, 2009 at 12:44 AM

Perhaps boxing should return to the physical education curriculum.

vegasman said on November 11, 2009 at 7:19 AM

So hopefully the "victim" in this case took away a valuable lesson. Yell racial slurs at someone, get kicked to the floor.

westy said on November 11, 2009 at 8:46 AM

"You can take the boy out of Hillyard, but you can't take the Hillyard out of the boy"

noyankeefans said on November 11, 2009 at 12:45 PM

I don't really know that school but over the years everyone who has had anything to say about Rogers is not good. So really there is obviously something going on in that school and surrounding neighborhoods if I have heard coments over the years and not one good thing to say about it. So yeah, it cannot be just 'rumors'. Glad my kids don't go there or anywhere near it. There is serious discipline where my kids go to school. They wouldn't tolerate anyone doing anything...ever! Sometimes they take the discipline to the extremes but hey, it if keeps our kids safe and gang free...GO FOR IT!

rwcboy said on November 11, 2009 at 4:49 PM

I have multiple friends that graduated from rogers. Some that are my best friends. Going to school to become doctors and journalist. Saying Roger high has terrible education is not true. Its the students that are not putting in the effort to learn.. Rogers is full of gangsters in the biggest crock of BS i have ever heard. Its the schools like mead and Mt spokane you need to watch out for. The schools with the drug problems that parents dont realize because they are too busy thinking that rogers is horrible like jessboogie.

bdh008 said on November 11, 2009 at 5:58 PM

Shame on Krem News for posting rumors as real news. I go to Rogers and what Krem has posted in this story is just what is going around the school in texts and hallway gossip.To say that this fight was racially motivated is completely inaccurate. The fight started when the victim was kissing his girlfriend in the hall way. The other fighter came up and kissed the girl on her cheek. The victim, as most boys in High School would, got pissed. They started arguing and ended up fighting. This fight had nothing to do with Racism!!

nevershotmac said on November 11, 2009 at 7:07 PM

mead has kids threatining to shoot teachers. mt spokane had kids who killed there mom and dad. lewis and clark have drug problems but we have one fight and were bad?

nevershotmac said on November 11, 2009 at 7:47 PM

hm. well 1st of this didnt START as a racist fight. it ended up as one. second of i feel bad for your kidds hun cause your there mom. we dont want you or your kids here,, if your gonna be rude

beebur said on November 12, 2009 at 10:23 AM

It does not matter if your kids go to the most expensive private school, they will still be faced with choices such as drugs and violence. Its called being a teenager in the world we live in today. Kids at private schools are more likley to be involved with drugs because they have the money and most times access to perscription medication. There is nothing wrong with Roger's, just the way some of the kids have been raised.

missjewell said on November 12, 2009 at 10:28 AM

Thank you "nevershotmac," and "bdh008." Pirate Pride :)

richie said on November 12, 2009 at 12:04 PM

If you live in Hillyard, you probably do not have a choice of schools to send your child to. You have probably lived there your whole life and cannot afford to live in a "better" neighborhood or send your kids to private school. You most likely went to Rogers yourself. Rogers is now a beautiful school and I am sure it has a dedicated staff of educators willing to teach anyone that is willing to learn. Fights happen at all schools, in the past, present and future (even grade school and junior high). I do think they need to close the campus at Rogers, as the kids congregate around the neighborhood in large numbers to smoke and stand in the street blocking traffic. There sure are some snooty people in Spokane.

stillasoldier said on November 13, 2009 at 12:51 PM

I went to RHS long time ago and we had fights back then, I was even part of a couple. For that matter, I even had an argument or two with my teachers. But to say that RHS is a "Bad" school is crap. There have always been other school w/i the District that are supposedly better and I find that too be an unfair stereotype by the community of Spokane. Those of us who grew up w/i Hillyard are just as well educated as the rest of Spokane. Oh, did I mention that I have proudly served my country for 19yrs, I have earned my MBA and I have traveled much farther thoughout the world then many of those who went to other HS. Get over your biased opinions because being a kid from Hillyard ain't such a bad thing after all.

piratepridek said on November 13, 2009 at 6:17 PM

Krem you need to go back on the air. and straighten out this story you got yourself into. and stop feeding gossip into our community and creating school rivals into a huge thing.

heyhey said on January 23, 2010 at 1:00 AM

Pirate Pride :)