By JESSICA KERMAN

ELWOOD — Marisol Salinas, 17, was surprised, not offended, when a supposed friend flashed his Ku Klux Klan card her way.

The Elwood Community High School sophomore, whose parents are black and Hispanic, is one of a few non-whites at the high school. Salinas, who does not live with her parents, said she has never had problems as a minority in this mid-sized district of about 1,800 students.

According to Indiana’s preliminary records for the 2007-08 school year, 94 percent of the Elwood High School student population is white. The school reported having 21 students of Hispanic descent, 12 multi-racial students, one student of Asian descent and no black students.

From the time she was in third grade and moved into the district, Salinas has always felt accepted and content in Elwood Community Schools.

“I’m friends with almost everyone here,” she said. “There are more black people moving to Elwood. I haven’t had any problems.”

According to Anderson Community Schools’ principals, racial targeting is also rare at Anderson’s two high schools, which have more minority students than Elwood.

Madison County’s most diverse high school, Anderson, records less than 10 racially-charged offenses annually, Principal Phil Nikirk said. Of the 1,495 students the school reported to enroll for the 2007-08 school year, 65 percent, or 979 students, are white. Anderson High School reported 375 black students and 78 Hispanic students enrolled.

“The problems that we have in this building that are racially motivated are pretty rare,” he said. “Usually they are instances where kids don’t get along where it has more to do with the circumstances and less to do with race.”

Of six incidents this school year where a racial slur or ethnic slur was attributed to a student, four were directed at another person, Nikirk said. In the two other instances, the offending students made general statements rather than targeting another student.

Highland High School, the only other Madison County high school with more than 10 percent minority enrollment, reported having 275 black students, 20 Hispanic students and 1,145 white students in its enrollment for the 2007-08 school year. Principal Mark Finger of Highland said the school has about five racially-motivated incidents a year.

“We have students who use that type of language on each other, and we’ve had instances where it’s been written on the wall,” he said.

Finger said the school investigates such problems thoroughly.

“To say that there’s no racial tensions in school is a misrepresentation,” he said.