Police called to quell RP high school unrest - focus centers on Conservative Club

The Press Democrat ^ | 01/17/2004 | ROBERT DIGITALE

[the_devils_advocate_666]

Fifteen police officers responded Friday to student unrest at Rohnert Park’s Rancho Cotate High, prompting an investigation into the disturbance and whether it related in any way to some students’ anger toward the school’s Conservative Club.

School officials believe there were at least three separate disturbances, said district Superintendent Michael Watenpaugh. But he would not characterize the disturbances and he said it was too early to conclude whether any involved student fighting or threats.

“Nothing similar to this has occurred in the four years that I’ve been principal,” Principal Mitchell Carter said of Friday’s unrest.

The disturbances came as the Conservative Club was conducting its weekly noon meeting on campus. The club has become a lightning rod for both supporters of its conservative viewpoints and opponents upset by what they charge has been the inflammatory rhetoric of its president.

Police said their initial investigation suggested that a spectator at Friday’s Conservative Club meeting had left the classroom and said something that agitated other students toward club members. The exiting student appeared to have misquoted some comments made in the meeting, said Police Sgt. Art Sweeney.

Illegal immigration was among the topics discussed at the meeting and has previously led to student anger toward the club and Tim Bueler, its president. But neither police nor school officials could confirm what was said outside the club meeting, or what caused the unrest.

Watenpaugh and Carter said they were not even sure that any of the disturbances had anything to do with the club or the content of Friday’s meeting.

“We’re looking at every possibility to find out what happened,” Watenpaugh said. Any students who broke school rules will be “appropriately disciplined.”

The call for help came at 12:33 p.m. from a Rohnert Park police officer assigned to the campus. Large groups of students were reportedly moving around campus. Administrators rang the lunch bells early and students were ushered back to classes.

The superintendent quicklybrought in a private investigator, hired by the school district, to help school officials in their investigation. Among those interviewed Friday were Bueler and the club’s faculty adviser, Brian Connich.

Connich, the club adviser, said he saw none of Friday’s disturbances and the club meeting itself was marked by a willingness of all sides to listen to one another.

“I was proud of the kids on both sides of the fence,” said Connich, a math teacher who on Friday hosted his second meeting as adviser. “The dialogue was reasonable.”

After Connich left the classroom to go to the office, Bueler and fellow Conservative Club member Clay Curreri said a campus supervisor arrived and told Bueler to stay inside until she got clearance that it was safe to escort him to his next class.

The Conservative Club was founded in the fall by a group of students who said they wanted to counter the liberal instruction of some teachers. Bueler garnered national attention after alleging he was physically threatened by students last month for his views on illegal immigration while teachers twice failed to come to his aid. Those allegations remain under investigation.

The school’s instructors deny their teaching is liberally biased and they vigorously argue that the staff wouldn’t hesitate to protect Bueler.

Bueler has been escorted to and from classes by a faculty member since students returned from winter break to ensure his safety from students who may be angered by his printed views on illegal immigration.

Carter, the principal, and Sweeney, the sergeant, each said that students may have been more on edge Friday because of word that a television news team was expected to come to campus that day to do a segment on the Conservative Club.

As a result of the unrest, the school postponed a Friday night talent show that was planned by the senior class.

[cake_crumb]

..."whether it related in any way to some students’ anger toward the school’s Conservative Club."

If the term "conservative" weren't associated with the club, such fascist actions would have been denounced as intolorant and dastardly. But as it has to do with conservatives, the students' and teachers' actions are just "anger".

Anyone watch The Wave? Welcome to the New, National Socialist Party.

[cake_crumb]

Didn't one of the teachers he asked for help tell him that he DESERVED what he was getting?

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP - Kinda reveals the lie that liberals are liberal.

[FourPeas]

It stirred up a myriad of possibilities.

Perhaps the instructors are not purposefully lying, but instead truly do believe they don't have a liberal slant. They could conceivably similarly rationalize their failure to help the young man.

Perhaps they're out-right lying (NEA members?) and figure that no one will notice. Therefore, they might reason that the second statement might actually be believed.

Then again, they might simply not care since they know that teachers are rarely fired for having a liberal slant to their teaching. Also, teachers are rarely even criticized for not protecting a kid who has such an unpopular opinion.

[Uncle Hal]

Any one that is white, male, heterosexual, and christian can be picked on and ridiculed without fear of reprisal by authorities or the mainstream media.