Schoolyard fights have taken on alarming new overtones at 'Ilima Intermediate School, where a handful of teachers say they fear for their safety and that of their students.

Police said last week that they had responded to 24 calls about fights or near fights since Feb. 1 near the campuses of the adjoining 'Ilima Intermediate-Campbell High schools. Witnesses report crowds of up to 300 students watching the fights, shouting and egging on the participants. Some of the fights are recorded and put on the Internet, complete with names and film credits.

Five 'Ilima teachers said not only have the fights increased in recent months but teachers have been threatened and even "bumped" by students.

One teacher said she was injured breaking up a fight. Another said she is afraid when she goes from her car to her classroom.

A parent who got involved in one student fight at the 'Ilima parking lot said he did so when he saw his son get attacked. The man said he has not sent his son back to school in the week since because he is worried about his son's safety.

Another parent said she has seen five fights at or near the 'Ilima campus in the last two weeks, and broke up two herself.

'Ilima Principal Jon Kitabayashi said he is looking into the issue, although he believes the violence being described is overstated. There may be as many as five "skirmishes" a week, he said, but there are few "major fights" and the campus is safe.

Police, Department of Education and Hawai'i State Teachers Association officials say they are willing to be part of a solution.

The fights, some say, can be traced to a lack of respect for authority, student restlessness, lack of school resources and widely available technology that allows students to record fights and post them on the Web.

Police Maj. Michael Moses, who oversees the West O'ahu region, said it appears many of the fights begin for no overt reason.

"Quite a few them appear to be staged," he said. "These kids want the exposure. They think it's cool."

Moses said that since Feb. 1, two assault cases were reported on campus, one resulting in the arrest of one juvenile, the other in three arrests. Moses said all four were 'Ilima students.

THREATS, ATTACKS

Virginia Hudson, an 'Ilima math teacher the last three years, said she was pushed and thrown to the ground while trying to break up a fight between two girls near the end of last year.

"When I got knocked down on the ground, I got shoved," she said. The injury did not require hospitalization.

Hudson also filed harassment charges against three girls who refused repeated requests to not wear strong fragrances to class, which triggered asthma attacks so severe they sent her to the emergency room.

Other times, she said, she has been threatened. Once, she said, she asked a boy to return an object improperly taken from her desk. The boy, she said, responded: " 'You touch me, and I'm going to hurt you.' "

Further, she said, "I have had students say to me, 'We're going to do what we want because we know we won't get any consequences.' "

Vida Yap, a first-year science teacher, said that in January, as she walked along a second-story corridor, she was struck by an object thrown by students on the first floor who were presumably aiming for someone else.

The impact aggravated neck and head injuries she suffered previously in a car accident, Yap said. Kitabayashi and his two vice principals made sure she was cared for, she said, but she also is worried about safety on the campus.

"My concern is for the students' safety and teachers' safety," Yap said, "and that safety measures have to be re-examined."

Yap said discipline is also an issue. "The consequences are not severe enough," she said. "But I know they (school administrators) are being pro-active."

Dhane Pierce, a math teacher in his fifth year at 'Ilima, said he has had students purposely bump into him. "The administration did nothing," he said.

The situation has worsened in recent weeks and months, said Pierce, who is the head of the associate faculty policy committee.

"I know that other teachers are also not feeling safe; they've been threatened," Pierce said. "I just think that it's just gotten out of control. The administration has to set specific and consistent consequences for fighting."

One teacher, who asked not be identified because of possible retribution, said that recently she has seen one to three fights per day on campus. She said some students afraid of getting involved hide in her classroom during school breaks.

"I don't want to walk to and from my car and the classroom for fear I'm going to run into groups of violent kids," she said.

One student who readily admitted to being in a fight was called to the administrative offices, only to return to her class within 10 minutes without any consequences, she said.

Said Pierce: "Most of the kids are sweet, loving kids, and it's this small group that is just running around and getting away with too much. And there's another group who, if they think they can get away with it, they will."

Other teachers and Kitabayashi agreed that only a small percentage of students are consistently getting into trouble, and the publicity over the fights has angered other students.

Pierce pointed out that having students constantly worried about being caught in the crossfire of a fight does not make for a good learning environment. "Most of them are there to learn," he said.

Most 'Ilima teachers do feel safe.

In a 2007 School Quality Survey, 61 percent of the 'Ilima teachers responding gave positive responses in the category of student safety and well-being. And on another set of questions, only 6.3 percent of teachers responding disagreed with the statement, "I feel safe at school."

REPORTED ASSAULTS

Principal Kitabayashi said that three to four weeks ago, he told students that "any students fighting on campus as of now will be banned from all school activities."

When students are involved in fights, parents are called to pick them up. Sometimes, however, parents may not be available and the child may end up staying in school that day, Kitabayashi said.

A 2007 Department of Education report showed the school reported eight assaults in 2005-2006 and eight in 2006-2007. That falls into the middle of the pack among all high and intermediate/middle schools reporting, but on the high end when it comes to just intermediate or middle schools.

Kitabayashi also said the school does what it can about fights off-campus, saying that he recently walked to a nearby fast-food restaurant known as an after-school fight venue to intervene in at least two fights. Several students wound up being suspended.

"We have a good school; it's not perfect," Kitabayashi said. "We're trying to get there," adding that it will take faculty, parents and the community to improve things.

PARENT SUPPORT NEEDED

Mamo Carreira, Campbell complex superintendent, said she had not heard of teachers expressing safety concerns until recently. She said she intends to meet with school and union officials in an effort to resolve those concerns.

Roger Takabayashi, HSTA president, said union staff have begun to work with the different parties but others need to get involved as well.

"We really need community support, parent support," he said, adding that school resources are limited. "We cannot blame the principals; I'm sure they're doing what they can because nobody wants fights on their campuses."

'Ilima math teacher Kendall Shimabukuro said he sees "at least two or three (fights) a week, if not more." For a while, the fights appeared to be subsiding. "I'm not sure what brought on the recent flurry. Some of it, it's just kids being kids."

Suspensions aren't always the answer, especially since some students view them as vacation time, especially if parents don't punish them for the suspension, he said. The school simply does not have enough resources, he said. "We're all stretched pretty thin."

He added: "There are ideas out there, some solutions. But we need to work together to see what ultimately will help and won't help."