The large fights at Newark High School last week were prompted by tension that began in the community over spring break and then ignited once the students returned to school, officials said Tuesday.
Though school officials try to stay abreast of neighborhood and social media disputes in order to head off any problems, the April 9 incident “blindsided” them, Assistant Principal Darren Tyson said.
School leaders meet with certain student representatives each Monday morning to gain intel about any issues that happened in the neighborhoods over the weekend. However, none of the students mentioned the simmering tension. Nor did any parents call to tip off the school, as often happens.
“These kids kept things tight to the vest,” Tyson said. “This was something that without any kind of communication, we couldn't identify it. So when it happened, it was something happening very fast.”
His comments came in response to pointed questions from school board members, who demanded to know what happened and what district administrators are doing to prevent a similar situation.
Christina School District high schools have seen 78 fights so far this school year – 33 each at Newark and Christiana and 12 at Glasgow. That is compared to 103 last year and 87 the year before that.
“I've looked at so many videos that it's heartbreaking,” Board President Don Patton said. “I look at them and I see the degree of violence the participants have against each other, or someone is in the background just egging it on.”
Fights 'overwhelmed' school officials
The most recent incident at Newark High began when more than 15 students started brawling near the end of the lunch period. As school staff, a district-employed constable and the school resource officer tried to break it up, several additional fights broke out nearby.
Administrators were “overwhelmed,” leading the SRO to call for backup, Tyson said. More than a dozen Newark and University of Delaware police officers rushed to the school to help restore order.
A short time later, as students were being dismissed, another fight broke out. A 14-year-old girl attempted to pepper spray another girl but instead pepper sprayed a police officer who intervened.
Police arrested eight students and said more arrests were anticipated as the investigation continued.
The one positive thing was that administrators were able to keep the incident relatively isolated and only three dozen or so students witnessed the fracas, Tyson said. The rest were held in classrooms or the cafeteria as the building was put on lockdown.
“Overall, I believe that we handled it and we got it under control in a manner which we could,” Tyson added.
Most of the students who were involved had not been involved in serious disciplinary issues previously.
“We just had a multitude of kids who were emotionally charged, and they were out of their normal state,” Tyson said.
Newark High administrators held a debrief meeting to talk about what happened and what could be done better, and they are trying to communicate to parents that their help is needed to prevent further incidents.
“If you know something's going on in your neighborhood, please do not hold it close to your vest,” Tyson said. “Please reach out to us. Just give us a heads up so that we can work on it and we can find a solution to the problem before it occurs.”
He sought to portray the April 9 fights as an aberration at Newark High.
“I've been at Newark for 32 years, and this is the first time that anything like this has ever happened, and it will be the last time as long as I'm there,” Tyson said.
Despite that claim, Newark High has, in fact, had two high-profile incidents in the past decade, both of which resulted in more arrests than the most recent fights. In 2019, five fights in one day resulted in the arrest of 14 students and prompted the Newark Police Department to station a second school resource officer at the school. In 2014, 14 students were arrested after a brawl in the cafeteria , and three more were arrested later in the week after a fight broke out on the football field while the school was being evacuated for a bomb threat.
Shelton: Solutions take time
Christina administrators said Tuesday that the district has been working hard this year to implement new strategies to reduce fighting and other disciplinary issues.
The district hired dedicated hall monitors, who patrol the high school hallways with an iPad that allows them to monitor where students are in real time. Some of the schools use an electronic hall pass system, which works through an app on the students' phones and requires a teacher to check the student in and out when the student needs to leave the classroom.
The schools have board certified behavioral specialists, and the district is partnering with the Wilmington-based Center for Structural Equity, which placed two outreach workers in each of the high schools this week.
The outreach workers will aim to build connections with the students and resolve any issues before they turn into fights.
“We'll be able to make a great contribution and hopefully decrease some of the violence because I would like to believe that my team has enough social capital that we would have seen some of this stuff coming off of spring break and we would have been able to notify those in authority to offset some of this,” founder Darryl Chambers said.
Superintendent Dan Shelton said that while the district has plenty of room for improvement, he cautioned that some of the initiatives being implemented will take time to produce results.
“I just don't want to undervalue the work that is being done,” Shelton said. “If it does not see an instant effect, that doesn't mean we won't see an effect.”
Board member Naveed Baqir said he is glad that the students responsible for the fights at Newark High have faced consequences, but he suggested the district investigate whether any school employees dropped the ball.
“Going forward, can we have some type of consequences for people who are responsible as well?” he said. “They should understand they will be questioned and their feet will be held to the fire.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0