March 30, 2006

HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune

San Diego County Sheriff's deputies kept a high profile outside the main entrance of Mar Vista High School yesterday after 137 students were arrested at a protest at a park.

Oceanside middle and high schools were ordered closed today and Friday after yesterday's melee at Oceanside High where about 250 student protesters faced off with police officers when they tried to break down a school gate.

Some students hurled food, milk cartons and plastic bottles at officers, prompting law enforcement to shoot pellets filled with pepper spray at the crowd's feet, police said. Three boys threw chunks of concrete at officers and were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Oceanside Sgt. Leonard Mata said.

The fracas drew 80 officers from four law enforcement agencies.

The demonstration was among a number across the county involving about 2,800 students who are protesting proposed revisions to immigration law.

Elsewhere in Oceanside, about 200 students left the district's three middle schools to protest. Officers rounded many of them up and ordered them onto school buses to be taken back to campus.

One Oceanside boy was stabbed after school, while walking with a group of students, and though the injury was minor he was flown to a hospital. However, it didn't appear to be related to the protests, police said.

Oceanside schools Superintendent Ken Noonan ordered the closure of the district's middle and high schools because of a growing concern for student safety.

[color="Red"]“We have received information that violence and [color="Black"]racial tension could escalate throughout the community during the remainder of the week, and at this time I feel it is prudent to close our middle and high schools on Thursday and Friday,” Noonan stated in a press release.

The closures will affect roughly 10,000 students.

In Vista, authorities reported a quiet, orderly group of nearly 200 students who marched yesterday through the city. Vista Unified's middle schools reportedly had a minimum day and students were released around noon so many of the protesters were not truant.

In Fallbrook, about 50 students held a peaceful demonstration across the street from Fallbrook High School.

Laura Chalkley, spokeswoman for the Oceanside Unified School District, said at Oceanside High School students were told they could protest at the football stadium, but they declined.

Following the confrontation between law enforcement and students during lunch, some teenagers ran to another school gate, where some left campus to begin protesting. Among them was senior Jhonn Gijon, who said he emigrated illegally from Mexico at age 3 with his parents.

“We wanted to protest outside the school where people could see us,” said Gijon, who carried a Mexican flag and the message “Viva los Mexicanos” painted on his shirt. He said his mother earned pennies cleaning houses in Mexico, so she moved to America.

“We think it's unfair that they think they can restrict immigration,” he said. Parent Leah Wilson searched frantically for her son outside Oceanside High as the last students were being dismissed. She had became alarmed when she found that parts of Mission Avenue were blocked off by police, and she drove to the campus to find out what was occurring.

“Nobody's told me anything,” she said. “Nobody's called me. I don't know where my son is.”

Chalkley said that after the melee the school went into lockdown, and then students were dismissed early building by building. Lincoln Middle School also went into lockdown, Chalkley said.

[color="Red"]Anticipating student protests yesterday, Oceanside police had set up a command post near Oceanside High at 7 a.m., asking even plain-clothes detectives to show up in uniform for backup.

“The rest of the city is operating with a skeleton crew right now,” Mata said.

About 20 sheriff's deputies and several California Highway Patrol officers were called in to help.

“We support the students' right to demonstrate peacefully and express their opinions; however, it's important they're in school,” Chalkley said.

Escondido middle and high school officials reported normal absences although several school officials said they heard rumors there could be another protest or walkout tomorrow.

In other areas of the county, police and deputies arrested about 150 students from Mar Vista High School near the border of San Diego and Imperial Beach on suspicion of loitering.

Protest crowds elsewhere in California dwindled yesterday because of enforcement of truancy laws.

The number of students protesting in San Diego County yesterday also appeared to be smaller than Tuesday, but a gathering in Chicano Park near downtown San Diego appeared to have grown. Police estimated that there were 2,000 students in the park yesterday, up from 1,500 to 1,800 the day before.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, who was in Washington, D.C., on city business, issued a statement to remind families “that the willful violation of truancy laws by school-age children comes with consequences that could include suspension from school.”

The San Diego Unified School District, which serves a large number of Latino immigrants, is providing its schools with materials so they can capitalize on current events as a “teachable moment.” Students are being encouraged to express their views through letters and e-mails to elected representatives, instead of walking out of class.

San Diego Unified estimated that about 1,000 students skipped school yesterday.

“While we understand the right of children to have opinions about issues of national importance, it is our objective for them to take these issues as learning experiences,” said San Diego Unified's chief administrative officer, Jose Betancourt. “The learning experiences can be best had in the classroom.”

The biggest concern of district officials is that students could get hurt or damage property during protests.

In El Cajon, Granite Hills High School went into a lockdown in the morning to prevent students from coming into contact with about 200 marchers from nearby El Cajon Valley High School, who may have been trying to encourage Granite students to join them. El Cajon police also ordered a lockdown at Montgomery Middle School.

The Grossmont district has sent home an automated phone message to parents to urge them to keep their children at school. The message, delivered in English and Spanish, warned that students who are arrested could face a $250 fine.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060330-0652-bn30protesta.html