A fight at Towers High School prompted a brief lockdown Tuesday morning, interrupting the school day and frustrating parents who say fights are ongoing at the DeKalb County school.
It was not clear what time the fight broke out, but the lockdown went into place to ensure the incident was contained, district spokesman Donald Porter said. The school had resumed operations by 11 a.m. DeKalb County police also responded but did not release any details.
Channel 2 Action News reported that more than a dozen students were involved, and three arrests had been made, including one adult. School officials did not confirm that information to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Porter did not say what prompted the fight but said school staff and resource officers quickly intervened to separate the students involved. Two employees suffered minor injuries, Porter added.
A video obtained by the news station shows several students punching and kicking other students in the hallway as some adults tried to break it up.
“Students involved in incidents like this are subject to law enforcement charges and consequences as outlined in the district’s Student Code of Conduct,” Porter said.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Lakisha Spells, a Towers High parent, said she is concerned by a recent series of fights at the school that have been posted to social media. She was on campus Tuesday to have a meeting with administrators about a fight last month in which her son was a victim when the latest fight broke out.
Spells was walking down a hallway when she saw a “big, huge” crowd of children with around five people involved in the fight, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
“Everybody had to just go into the rooms, lock down, and no one was able to roam the halls, so I don’t know the source of the fight,” she added.
The mother said she has been trying to contact the DeKalb County Board of Education to address the fight involving her son last month, but she has not heard back. Her son suffered a concussion, a broken nose and multiple bruises from his waist up when he was attacked while eating lunch, she said.
“It was horrifying,” Spells said of watching the fight on video. “My son is 14. He is only 100 pounds, and you know, he is crying. He is scared. He is being targeted, and you can’t help your kid. You can’t do anything. I am ready to fight for him, but I can’t fight for him.”
A video shared with Channel 2 of that fight showed a group of students standing over the boy, kicking and punching him as he crouched in the corner of a classroom.
“I don’t like it,” she added. “This is not the life I want my son to live. He’s been in private school. This is his first time in public school, and this is not the trend that I want my son to be in right now.”
In March, a large group of Towers High School students were pepper-sprayed after a fight broke out. Students who spoke to Channel 2 said the fight happened in the cafeteria after officers tried to de-escalate a situation, which led to students attacking the officers.
In nearby Clayton County, fights are up 200% compared to the same period last year, Superintendent Morcease Beasley said recently. He said they have become so persistent, especially in the high schools, that principals asked him to go public with the problem and ask parents for help, the AJC previously reported.
Elsewhere Tuesday morning, there was an enhanced police presence in the area of Kendrick Middle School in Clayton after a 911 call was made reporting a shooting that turned out to be a hoax. School officials said police are investigating the call and declined further comment.
