Students plan to appeal penalty for racist symbols

Prince William officials recommend expulsion for August incident

Four of six Stonewall Jackson High School students accused of arranging pieces of sod into racist symbols will appeal the Prince William County school district's recommended punishment at a disciplinary hearing Wednesday night, said Rae Roach, mother of two of the students.

Officials said that six boys used pieces of landscaping sod to form a swastika and spell out "KKK" and "white power" in a parking lot at Sinclair Elementary School in the Manassas area. They have been suspended from school since the Aug. 25 incident, said Roach, whose 14- and 16-year-old sons were among the group.

A committee of three school board members is to decide in a closed meeting Wednesday whether to follow the recommendation of another school system panel and expel them for the rest of the year, said Roach, who called that punishment "unjust."

If the committee cannot come to a unanimous agreement, then such cases may go before the full school board.

Four of the students were arrested and charged with vandalism, said Sgt. Kim Chinn, a Prince William police spokeswoman, but she couldn't say which ones. Roach said she didn't think any of the six had been charged.

"What my children did, albeit it was wrong and they know that, does not necessitate taking them out of school for an entire year," said Roach, a single mother who said she works full time and cannot afford private school. She said her sons had not previously been in trouble with the school system or police.

Prince William schools spokesman Ken Blackstone said that he could not comment on individual cases. In general, he said, the disciplinary committee can suspend or expel a student, require that he change schools or dismiss the case and send the student back to school immediately. If the committee cannot come to a unanimous agreement, then such cases go before the full school board.

Two of the students are not appealing the recommended expulsions, Roach said.

Roach said that her sons and the other teens had completed a court-ordered program that included community service and writing reports on civil rights in Virginia. They also visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, she said, where they learned why their actions had provoked such a stiff response.

"They were humbled," Roach said. "They understand now what those words and symbols mean to people."