Chaos at Eaton High's anti-gun violence event could result in disciplinary actions

School officials are investigating how and why an anti-gun-violence protest Tuesday at Northwest Eaton High School devolved into racially divisive confrontations.

"There are two things that are going to happen at Eaton over the next couple of weeks," Superintendent Ryder Warren says in a letter to parents. "First, the students who made the choice to behave badly will be disciplined. We had a few kids trying to silence the voices and opinions of fellow classmates, and we even had some racial insults hurled."

Then, on Friday, when students nationwide are planning walkouts, Northwest high schools will have a higher police presence. Students elsewhere in Texas have indicated they plan to take part in the National School Walkout.

"The Eaton demonstration brought to life the necessity of the district to stay in front of this conversation being held by our students," Warren wrote to parents. "Again, I strongly feel student voice can never be ignored, but I also know walkouts and demonstrations, if left unmanaged and unsupervised, can go south in a hurry."

Warren said the school will also use the demonstration to teach students about "respectful interaction" of opposing viewpoints.

On Tuesday, a peaceful demonstration turned into chaos after several students displayed Confederate flags. About 100 students at the far north Fort Worth school demonstrated against gun violence and to honor the Feb. 14 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting. The student-led event started in the student union and then moved into an outdoor courtyard for a moment of silence. But plans for a peaceful memorial devolved into fights surrounding race and gun rights, said Jordan Vine, an Eaton student who organized the demonstration.

Emily Conklin, spokeswoman for the district, said Eaton has about 2,100 students. About 100 participated in the demonstration. A small group made some poor choices that are being reviewed.

"They made some choices that could potentially result in disciplinary actions based on the investigations being held on the campus,” she said, explaining that each issue raised is a separate case. She said she couldn't go into the details of each case.

“It’s a fairly small amount that did make these choices," Conklin said. “The rest of the 2,000 students remained in class."

Conklin said the the investigation is still ongoing and that there were no reports of "major injuries." However, some students did follow up with the school nurse.

Conklin said they are monitoring social media about future school walkouts. She said principals at Northwest and Byron Nelson are keeping families informed about upcoming planned demonstrations.

This report contains material from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published April 18, 2018 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Chaos at Eaton High's anti-gun violence event could result in disciplinary actions."