A video circulating in a South San Jose high school community has triggered concern and anger. The video footage shows a Branham High School assistant principal getting into a heated discussion with students, uttering a racist term and appearing to take a swipe at the student recording him. It al so shows the students repeatedly taunting the administrator. The video was taken by a teen student, sitting with friends in a set of bleachers presumably on campus. When the clip starts, a back-and-forth is already taking place between the assistant principal and the students. At one point, the administrator accuses the teens of calling him the N-word, a phrase the administrator repeats, in full, on camera. From there, the conversation becomes more tense as the teens taunt the administrator for using the word. The administrator begins asking why they’re recording him. At one point, as the teens refuse to stop recording, the administrator appears to swing or swipe at the camera one of the students is holding. The teen suggests the administrator was trying to attack him. The Campbell Union High School District said it has initiated a thorough investigation involving all individuals connected to the video but added it doesn’t have all the relevant facts so will not comment further until the investigation is completed. A parent of one of the students said she has filed a complaint with the school district, demanding the administrator be held accountable, saying her child and others now don’t feel safe. She said regardless of the teens’ taunting, the adult should not have acted that way. “For me, I would like to see leadership training done,” parent Vanessa Grijalva said. “More on unconscious bias and racism, things like that when it comes to the staff, and not just at Branham but throughout the district.” Legal analyst and former prosecutor Steven Clark, who works often with educators, said the parent is correct from what he saw on the video. “When you watch this video, even though the statements made by the students were provocative and inappropriate, the administrator can’t respond with violence,” he said. “That takes this to another level.” Clark said what he sees seems to meet the requirements of misdemeanor assault but also said the overall video would make it tough for prosecutors to get a conviction. “They’re going to say, ‘Do we believe the jury is ever going to convict a school administrator on the basis of this conduct when you see how the students were acting in this provocative banter that they were engaged in?'” he said. ...read more read less