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Irregular News for 01.30.06
Anchorage, AK -- Fifteen Dimond High School students who officials say watched and cheered while two of their classmates bloodied each other in a videotaped fistfight at Kincaid Park last week have been suspended along with the fighters.
The fighters -- a 10th-grader and an 11th-grader -- may face criminal charges of disorderly conduct or assault for the clash that started over a girl, Anchorage police Lt. Gardner Cobb said.
One of boys reportedly suffered a broken nose and concussion, school officials said.
"It got pretty nasty," said Dimond High School principal Cheryl Guyett, who saw the video. "We don't tolerate this type of violence."
A student videotaped the Jan. 18 after-school brawl; a parent learned of the tape the next day and gave it to school officials. While administrators had hoped to contain the video, they said rumors flourished it had been uploaded to a student's blog on the Internet -- but they had not been able to find it.
Guyett said the students were clearly determined to fight. The location, despite an Anchorage police officer being tipped off, changed three times before students eluded the officer and ultimately made their way to the motocross track at Kincaid Park.
The two boys shed their winter jackets and fought in the bitter cold near the snow-covered mounds used by motocross racers in the summer and snowmobilers in the winter.
School officials identified the fighters and 15 spectators from the video. Police and school officials, however, said the procession driving from site to site included dozens of vehicles.
Confirmed spectators, who ranged from ninth-graders to 12th-graders, were suspended for three days; the fighters were suspended for nine days.
"By going there to watch it, that encouraged the fight to happen," Anchorage School District spokesman Roger Fiedler said.
One of the fighters will not be permitted back to Dimond -- he lives outside of the area the school serves and was only allowed to attend on special privileges. Those privileges are revoked, Guyett said.
In September, students from a different high school came to Dimond before a football game and began a skirmish, also over a girl. The episode ended when one boy pulled out a gun and started shooting. Nobody was injured, but a teenager was arrested on charges of attempted murder and assault.
Anchorage School District officials say that suspensions for fights, threats and assaults in all high schools climbed from 358 in the 2003-2004 academic year to 510 in the 2004-2005 year. In the first quarter of this year, the number of suspensions was down from last year, officials say.
Staged fights between students grabbed attention several years ago. In 2000, at an incident involving Service High School students, more than 130 were suspended for watching or participating in a fight, also videotaped.
Cindy Sims, president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at Dimond, saw the shootout at the parking lot in September. "Things are going downhill real fast," she said on Friday. "It's a lot different than when we were in school. Parents are still clueless about that."
Guyett said, "I've been an administrator for 24 years and I've definitely seen a trend toward a different kind of aggression and violence. ... It just deeply disappoints me.
"It really concerns me that kids will go to these limits to watch their peers getting hurt," she said.
source
Anchorage, AK -- Fifteen Dimond High School students who officials say watched and cheered while two of their classmates bloodied each other in a videotaped fistfight at Kincaid Park last week have been suspended along with the fighters.
The fighters -- a 10th-grader and an 11th-grader -- may face criminal charges of disorderly conduct or assault for the clash that started over a girl, Anchorage police Lt. Gardner Cobb said.
One of boys reportedly suffered a broken nose and concussion, school officials said.
"It got pretty nasty," said Dimond High School principal Cheryl Guyett, who saw the video. "We don't tolerate this type of violence."
A student videotaped the Jan. 18 after-school brawl; a parent learned of the tape the next day and gave it to school officials. While administrators had hoped to contain the video, they said rumors flourished it had been uploaded to a student's blog on the Internet -- but they had not been able to find it.
Guyett said the students were clearly determined to fight. The location, despite an Anchorage police officer being tipped off, changed three times before students eluded the officer and ultimately made their way to the motocross track at Kincaid Park.
The two boys shed their winter jackets and fought in the bitter cold near the snow-covered mounds used by motocross racers in the summer and snowmobilers in the winter.
School officials identified the fighters and 15 spectators from the video. Police and school officials, however, said the procession driving from site to site included dozens of vehicles.
Confirmed spectators, who ranged from ninth-graders to 12th-graders, were suspended for three days; the fighters were suspended for nine days.
"By going there to watch it, that encouraged the fight to happen," Anchorage School District spokesman Roger Fiedler said.
One of the fighters will not be permitted back to Dimond -- he lives outside of the area the school serves and was only allowed to attend on special privileges. Those privileges are revoked, Guyett said.
In September, students from a different high school came to Dimond before a football game and began a skirmish, also over a girl. The episode ended when one boy pulled out a gun and started shooting. Nobody was injured, but a teenager was arrested on charges of attempted murder and assault.
Anchorage School District officials say that suspensions for fights, threats and assaults in all high schools climbed from 358 in the 2003-2004 academic year to 510 in the 2004-2005 year. In the first quarter of this year, the number of suspensions was down from last year, officials say.
Staged fights between students grabbed attention several years ago. In 2000, at an incident involving Service High School students, more than 130 were suspended for watching or participating in a fight, also videotaped.
Cindy Sims, president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at Dimond, saw the shootout at the parking lot in September. "Things are going downhill real fast," she said on Friday. "It's a lot different than when we were in school. Parents are still clueless about that."
Guyett said, "I've been an administrator for 24 years and I've definitely seen a trend toward a different kind of aggression and violence. ... It just deeply disappoints me.
"It really concerns me that kids will go to these limits to watch their peers getting hurt," she said.
source