Brownsburg defeats Northwest 68-48.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Public Schools said they are committed to taking every altercation serious and the safety of their students and staff is the highest priority.
IPS released a news letter on Friday saying that student on student violence harms not only the participants but the school as a whole. The schools are committed to taking steps to ensure future events like the fight at Northwest High School are avoided.
“We’re not going to get in the middle of fights,” Indianapolis Education Association President Rhondalyn Cornett said in a statement sent out his week. “That’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to educate the students. We do what we can to keep everybody safe because that’s our job, too – we understand that – but I’m not going to ask people to injure themselves and put themselves in harm’s way for a fight.”
On Monday night the Academic Improvement Officers, along with Deputy Superintendent for Operations Scott Martin and Chief Garner will host a safety meeting for all IPS secondary principals to outline a safety standard for high schools and middle schools.
The IPS Student Services team says they have been working on putting together a district wide Student Code of Conduct. The goal is to encourage positive behaviors.
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INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Parents and students are looking to Indianapolis Public Schools to take action after another fight at Northwest High School is caught on tape.
We spoke to a student who says she, as well as her sister and cousin, were involved in the brawl. She says fights are a common occurrence at Northwest High School and something needs to change.
More cell phone footage of a fight that broke out Tuesday was posted on Facebook.
Destiny Holbert says she, her sister, and cousin were involved in a brawl. Destiny says more than 20 people jumped in. She is now at home, suspended for five days.
“The girl had run up on my cousin. My cousin started swinging at her and we was in a circle. We was backing up on the other females trying to jump her. More kids ended up coming and pushing, trying to see a fight, and we ended up falling over. So five to 10 females came over to try and jump her. So we end up just jumping in and helping her,” said Holbert.
Destiny says fights are just a part of a regular school day at Northwest.
“We get four or five fights every day. We get on lockdown like five times a day through seven hours of school,” said Holbert.
Nikki Holbert is Destiny’s mom. She says bullies picked on her niece, which led to the fight involving her daughters. Nikki says she reported the issues but wasn’t taken seriously.
“So why they even still in this school? Why? Why are they not doing anything? I know I don’t have the best kids. I know they have behavioral problems every time Northwest gives me a call. I’m up there getting on my kids,” said Nikki Holbert.
24-Hour News 8 told you Monday about another fight where a video posted on YouTube shows a male student beating a female with thousands of views. This mom and daughter hope the extra attention will bring change.
“For them to be doing that, it’s nothing to be safe at school,” said Nikki Holbert.
The principal at Northwest says there were three incidents on Monday alone, but added it’s a safe school, and they don’t plan on changing security.
The ISTA also responded to the fights and said that every school district is different when it comes to policies and procedures.
“Many times the school will have a policy where a teacher is suppose to do everything reasonable without putting themselves directly in the the line of a hit or a punch in the middle,” said ISTA President, Teresa Meredith.
Meredith believes that the teachers did the right thing, in both fights.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Public Schools is investigating a fight caught on camera. The video was first uploaded onto YouTube and has been viewed hundreds of times across social media.
Cellphone video captured what happened as dozens of Northwest High School students were trying to get to class Tuesday.
A teenage girl is seen on camera stopping in the middle of the hallway as she is confronted by a fellow classmate. That classmate, a boy, appears to throw the first punch, pushing her against the lockers as she quickly falls to the ground.
Moments later, he could be seen hovering over her throwing more punches. A teacher could be heard yelling in the background for them to stop.
Some Northwest parents tell 24-Hour News 8 they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“They need to put more people out in the hallways to make sure that people pay attention to what’s going on,” said Tameca Niemann, a concerned parent. “There are too many students in the hallway. If that was a break in between time or whatever, they should have somebody out there.”
The person who uploaded the video onto YouTube and didn’t want to be identified on camera.
“It’s seriously just a matter of time before it gets worst unless someone steps in,” said the uploader.
The person tells 24-Hour News 8 the video was sent to them by a teacher at the school, who wanted to shed light on what they believe is a growing problem behind closed doors.
“They’ve been telling me about how bad the school has gotten. How the fights are so out of control and it’s happening so frequently. It’s just got to the point where we were like, we need someone to see what’s going on.”
IPS issued a statement following the incident:
Northwest Community High School protocol calls for staff members to diffuse the situation verbally, then signal for support from administrations and school police. School and district administrators are arranging appropriate disciplinary action, and IPS police officers are collaborating with the prosecutor’s office to determine any potential legal actions. Indianapolis Public Schools’ lead administrators are investigating today’s situation at Northwest to ensure our students are served in the best possible ways.
IPS police say they are reviewing witness statements, cellphone video, and school surveillance video.
Ben Davis defeats Northwest 73-29.
Perry Meridian defeats Northwest 75-46.