Students Protest After Peninsula High School Trump Supporter Says She Was Attacked Over Political Beliefs

WOODSIDE, CA — A brawl that broke out between students at Woodside High School – reportedly over teenagers' opinions on the presidential election — has sheriff's officials preparing a case for review by the District Attorney's office.

San Mateo County Sheriff's Det. Sal Zuno says that no arrests have been made in the case, which was reported Nov. 9.

"We are going to be submitting a case to the DA's office, so hopefully next week the DA will have time to review it and make a decision [if he will file charges]," Zuno told Patch Thursday afternoon. "We give them all the facts and evidence, and then the DA makes the final determination."

The fight, which was captured on student cell phone video, attracted international media attention because the girl who was physically attacked said it was because of her support of President-Elect Donald Trump.

"This girl comes up to me and she said, 'Do you hate Mexicans?' and I was like, 'no,' and she said, 'You support Trump. You hate Mexicans'," sophomore Jade Armenio told ABC7 Bay Area news.

Video shows she was then attacked by the unnamed student; her head slammed into the ground while most other students sat by and did nothing.

Other students on campus say there is more to the story, though, and that offensive comments were made in person and on social media. However, audio on the video Patch witnessed is difficult to make out.

"We don't know the whole story," one parent told Patch. But to Marie-Jeanne Juilland, the fight has further ramifications than a normal schoolyard fight. To her, the incident "... reflects acutely the situation in the country."

Juilland said she's hoping the school will continue to talk to students about bridging the divide.

"How can we get them to understand each other, and talk to each other and see where there are similarities as to just focusing on the differences?"

The day after the fight, hundreds of Woodside High students began to do just that— they gathered in the quad to peacefully protest, according to Principal Diane Burbank.

"We decided to keep the students safe in a peaceful setting where they could process what they felt and what they thought and directed the setup of a sound system to use this teachable moment to address the crowd," Burbank said in a letter posted online to parents.

Students were invited to take a turn at the microphone, and dozens did so.

"We challenged students that it was easy to be respectful when you agreed with a position, but that it was harder to be respectful when you disagreed, and that all opinions were welcomed at the microphone," Burbank said. "One student spoke about unity and different pathways to unity. We added that every voter also deserved inclusion in that pathway to unity. It was a remarkable peaceful protest."

Image credit: Woodside High School