Teachers and administrators tried to ease tensions at Boise High School after recent hallway confrontations between "skinheads" and other students.
Principal Blossom Turk has called on the Idaho Human Rights Commission for help.The five to 10 skinhead students dress in paramilitary attire and have shaved heads, Turk said. Racist fliers were placed in the school last week.
"It is a schoolwide problem in that the students are aware of it and are disturbed about it," Turk said. "It creates some anxiety."
Skinhead groups in other states have been involved in racially oriented violence. Rumors of trouble involving the Boise group raced through the school last week. But Turk said the Boise High skinheads have not been violent.
Two youths who identified themselves as skinheads said their group is concerned with keeping gang violence out of the school.
"Mostly I want to show that there are some white people who are not going to put up with the gangs," one of them said. He said the group does not want to start violence but wants to protect its members.
Idaho Human Rights Commission Director Marilyn Shuler said she was contacting experts for Turk who could work with the students to keep the peace at Boise High.
"We are supportive of her desire to keep the school a safe environment for all students," Shuler said. "We credit her for trying to keep the situation from escalating while trying to protect the rights of students."
The idea is to have a mediator work with the skinheads and other students to persuade them to refrain from violence, Shuler said.
The fliers depicted Adolf Hitler and contained slogans such as "White Nationalism for a White America," secondary education director Dick Hartley said.
Hartley said placing hate literature on school property can result in suspension or expulsion.
Minority students are particularly concerned, Turk said.
"One of my ethnic students came up to me today and said: `This is getting worse. What are you going to do about it?' " she said. "If you are a member of an ethnic minority, this is scary."
Turk met with faculty Thursday to discuss the situation. On Friday, teachers read in their classrooms the school district's policy forbidding gangs and hate groups.
Many students are reluctant to talk, saying they don't want to be made targets for confrontation in the hallway or draw negative attention to their school.