January return for 4 behind racist symbols

1 Pr. William student was expelled till then; 3 had faced a year out

Four of the six Stonewall Jackson High School students who faced year-long expulsion for arranging pieces of sod into racist symbols will have the opportunity to return to school at the end of January, a panel of three Prince William County School Board members decided unanimously Wednesday night.

One of the boys, who is 15, was expelled only through the first semester of this school year, which ends Jan. 29.

The panel decided that the other three -- a 14-year-old and two 16-year-olds -- should be expelled for the entire year. But they will be allowed to return to school for the second semester, with their expulsions held in abeyance. If they violate strict behavior contracts, their expulsions will automatically be reinstated.

In addition, one of the teens has to take a test on the school district's code of behavior, and all four must perform from 20 to 40 hours of community service.

The students were part of a group of six teenage boys accused of using 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. All six have been suspended from school since the Aug. 25 incident, parents said.

The School Board panel's decisions Wednesday night came after five hours of closed-door meetings with the four teens and their parents. The families were appealing a school district recommendation to expel the students for one year.

The two other students involved did not appeal. Their year-long expulsions were confirmed by the panel Wednesday.

The teens have admitted their involvement to police, parents said, and completed a diversion program that required performing 30 hours of community service and writing a two-page essay about civil rights in Virginia. They also visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The mother of the 15-year-old boy, who asked that her name not be printed out of concern for her family's privacy, said she was happy with Wednesday's outcome. "They get to make the point that this isn't going to be tolerated, but he still gets to go back to school," she said.

Rae Roach, less satisfied, questioned why one of her sons, 16, had received twice as many hours of community service as the others -- 40 hours, as opposed to 20 -- and why her other son, 14, was the only one of the group singled out to take a test on the school district's code of behavior.

School officials said they could not comment on individual disciplinary cases.