Eight Pinole Valley High Students Suspended After Second Fight On Campus

Eight Pinole Valley High School students have been suspended after they got into their second fight in two weeks on the campus.

Principal Kibby Kleiman said the students first got into a scuffle on August 29 during lunch hour.

The teens were suspended for five days. Their parents were also alerted and the students were required to sign behavior contacts before returning to school.

On Monday, the students returned to class. Kleiman said security personnel and teachers were alerted. Several teachers overheard the students talking about something happening again at lunch.

Kleiman said he, the teachers and security folks were ready when lunch period began. The students got into another fight that Kleiman said lasted less than 30 seconds before adults separated them.

Pinole police officers were also called to the campus.

The students have been suspended for another five days.

Kleiman said the fights were provoked by old neighborhood and family disputes. A couple of the students are transfers from other high schools. The rest are Pinole residents.

Kleiman said he believes the problem has been solved and the students will refrain from fighting when they return. If they don't, furthur action will be taken.

Kleiman said his main focus is making sure the rest of the students' educational experience isn't disrupted.

"We're not going to let events like this hijack our school," said Kleiman.

He noted there were 1,270 Pinole Valley High students who were not involved in the fights.

He said there was plenty of other activity at the school on Monday. Several clubs met for the first time and the drama department held auditions.

"There were a lot of events at the school on Monday and they all had more students involved than the fight did," Kleiman said.