Police confirm uptick in fights, near brawls at Northside High School
Alternative content
Police confirm uptick in fights, near brawls at...
School district staff said they're on top of any problems and the school is definitely safeRoanoke County police confirmed to 10 On Your Side it’s seen an uptick in fights and shouting matches (disorderly conduct) at Northside High School.
Police have been involved in five cases of either fights or near brawls at Northside since November 1st.
Statistics showed only one report of any similar incidents between the beginning of the school year in August through October 31st.
Most of the cases involved fights over who’s dating whom—- teenage dating, police said.
At least one of the five cases was factional, or between one group of friends and another.
Police said none of the cases appeared to be related or a sign of any overwhelming issues at the school.
Roanoke County schools deputy superintendent Allen Journell said staff and teachers at the school were on top of the situation.
Journell said the school is definitely safe.
“I don’t think Northside or any of the other [Roanoke County] schools have any more [problems with fighting] than would normally be occurring when you’re dealing with teenagers,“ Journell said.
Journell said staff and teachers at Northside get proactive when this type of activity seems to increase.
School staff and school resource officers look at times and places where any problems may be occurring, as well as any groups of students involved, then style their response to fit the situation, police said.
Journell said students are often taken aside and counseled to pick better solutions than fighting when it comes to resolving any conflicts.
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
Unfortunately fights are inevitable in a high school setting espcially after they’ve been in school for several months with no substantial break, so I’m not sure why this is making the news. Sure, the Fleming fights were news…that was out of control…but the Northside fights are fairly normal.If faculty and administrators weren’t making changes to see that fights don’t happen, that would be newsworthy. However, this isn’t the case. Lay off Northside until there really is something noteworthy to report.
What kind of reporting is this? Let’s see if we can stir up some news because I’m “short” on any good stories?? “Uptick” what the heck is and “uptick”? This is the kind of reporting that leads me to believe that someone small minded is trying to make a story where there isn’t one. There have always been fights in schools, there will always BE fights in schools. I think this community and the profession of journalism deserves better reporting than this!
Advertisement