Brawl Closes School In Hawaii

A brawl closed school on Hawaii's Big Island on Friday, after multiple fights and mounting racial tensions this week created an unsafe environment.

A brawl involved roughly 20-30 students Thursday was the culmination of a week of smaller fights and racial taunting, say high school officials in Hawaii. Eight students were arrested Thursday, seven boys and one girl, and charged with disorderly conduct.

Kealakehe High School in Kailua-Kona on Big Island was shuttered due to fears about student safety. The brawl closed school officially on Friday, and the high school of roughly 1,600 students will remain closed through the weekend. The school's principal, Wilfred Murakami, said the fights resulted from ongoing "bullying through racial and cultural taunts."

The tension is apparently between students of Micronesian descent and other racial groups, which led to a different brawl Wednesday that forced a campus-wide shutdown. No one has been seriously injured in the fighting.