Three of the nine students at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas identified for their involvement in kicking and punching red-haired students on Fri., Nov. 20 have been charged with a crime.

One of the boys, a 13-year-old, was charged with threatening to inflict injury by means of cyberbullying. The boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, apparently used Facebook, an online social network, to encourage classmates to “kick a ginger.”

The word ginger to describe people with red hair was made popular in the cartoon television series “South Park.” In a 2005 episode, one of the characters depicts people with red hair as “evil” and “soulless” and calls for Nov. 20 as “kick a ginger day.”

Two 12-year-old boys have been charged with the crime of battery on school property. All of the students were released to their parents.

In addition to three students who reported being harassed and kicked, another six to nine students told officials that they were accosted by other kids.

“A really terrific school has become a target as being a not so terrific school (because of the incident),” Las Virgenes superintendent Donald Zimring said.

“Middle school kids do dumb things,” Zimring said. “It’s part of their growth process. This is the age when kids act out.

“Nine students out of 926 chose to do something they thought was funny, and at no time did they think it was hateful,” he said.

Zimring said no child was severely beaten or hospitalized. One boy was treated by a doctor for bruises.

“We had kids who made a very poor decision,” Zimring said.

According to A.E. Wright Principal Kimmarie Taylor, two assemblies and several classroom discussions on character were conducted at the school.

Children were presented with the toothpaste challenge, Taylor said. Students were told to squeeze all the toothpaste out of a tube and try to put it back with a toothpick.

Taylor said the exercise reminded kids that once they do something harmful they cannot take it back.

Zimring said parents need to monitor what their children watch on television and the sites they visit online.

Mathy Wasserman, co-president of the school’s parent-faculty club, said she supports how school administrators and district personnel responded to the incident. She said the district has incorporated anti-bullying campaigns in the schools for years.

“Bullying education is embedded in (the district’s curriculum),” Taylor said. “They’re kids and this is a reality check. . . . Time they have to listen.”

The investigation into the incident is being handled by the Juvenile Intervention Team at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station. Court dates at Sylmar’s Juvenile Courthouse are pending, a sheriff’s report said.