A El Paso mother says she pulled her two teenage daughters out of Pebble Hills High School and started homeschooling them after what she describes as racially motivated harassment boiled over into a cafeteria fight. Precious Starks said the ordeal began in a classroom on Oct. 16 and ended with her daughters Brooke and Taniya being attacked by other students on Oct. 19.
Starks, whose military family had moved to El Paso, Texas, said she withdrew her daughters because she feared for their safety after the harassment escalated into physical violence, according to KFOX. She said the trouble started when Brooke, who she said was the only African American student in one of her classes, had objects thrown at her in class that nearly hit her face. Starks said Brooke had already reported racial comments from classmates to her teachers before that incident occurred.
A Cafeteria Confrontation Caught on Video
Three days later, on Oct. 19, Starks said she believes students were still upset and approached Brooke and Taniya in the school cafeteria. A fight broke out, and it was recorded on cellphone video that was shared on social media, per the station's report. Starks said the video shows a student body-slamming Taniya, and she said one student confronted Brooke by asking, “like, what did you say to my brother?”
Starks disputed a school officer's account of what happened next. She said the officer told her that one student appeared to be restraining Taniya rather than fighting her — a characterization Starks rejects. She also said the officer told her she could press charges against one student involved, but not two, the same account notes.
Family Says Discipline Fell Short
According to Starks, the students involved in the fight received in-school suspension, a resolution she said she disagreed with, along with the broader investigation into the incident. She said that aside from one teacher, no school staff or administrators checked on her daughters in the aftermath. That teacher, Starks said, told her the problem had been occurring at Pebble Hills for a very long time.
Starks said she sought accountability roughly a week after the incident, as reported by CBS4, and said she and her daughters had previously reported racial comments at school, particularly involving Brooke. In response, the Socorro Independent School District said the safety and well-being of its students is a top priority and that administrators follow established procedures to review the circumstances of incidents and take appropriate action under district policies and the Student Code of Conduct. The district said federal student privacy laws prevent it from sharing information on individual students or disciplinary matters.
NAACP Raises a Separate Incident
The Pebble Hills case surfaced the same week El Paso's NAACP branch held a news conference addressing a separate, viral video that appeared to show teens dressed as Ku Klux Klan members. NAACP El Paso branch president Carl Dwyer referenced the Pebble Hills fight while speaking Monday and said, “You cannot tell me that these incidents are not connected.” However, the station's reporting on that news conference stated that his remarks did not establish a direct link between the school incident and the KKK-mask display. El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas said separately that the department is investigating the mask incident to determine if any laws were violated.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Texas Schools
The Starks family's account arrives amid wider scrutiny of bullying and harassment in Texas schools. Texas reported 4,099 bullying incidents in the 2023-24 school year, an 11% increase from the previous year, according to a coalition letter compiled by idra.org. The same document cites a Government Accountability Office finding that one in four students nationally have experienced bullying based on religion, national origin, race, disability or sex.
Similar disputes have surfaced elsewhere this year. In Massachusetts, Millbury Memorial Junior/Senior High School agreed to pay an undisclosed settlement and revise its harassment policies after a racist bullying complaint, according to GBH. In Tennessee, a lawsuit accused Dickson County schools of failing to stop racial harassment of a high school student, as reported by WSMV, while in Illinois, five Lincoln-Way East High School students voluntarily withdrew following an investigation into alleged racial harassment at a football game, per ABC7 Chicago.
For now, Starks is keeping her daughters home, teaching them herself rather than sending them back to Pebble Hills High School. The Socorro Independent School District has not detailed what, if any, further action it plans to take beyond its standard review process.
