Two incidents at Britton Middle School last week had students
and parents talking but were not as serious as rumor portrayed
them, according to Principal Jim McDonald.
Two incidents at Britton Middle School last week had students and parents talking but were not as serious as rumor portrayed them, according to Principal Jim McDonald.
“There was an almost fight this morning between several girls,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “This wasn’t a gang thing, or a racial thing, but something that started out of a kind-of name calling. One group of girls tells another group of girls that they said something about the other girls, and people get upset.”
According to Morgan Hill Police Department Lt. Joe Sampson, the near-fight began at 9:30 a.m. between two ninth-grade girls; Britton Assistant Principal Kathleen Gibbs attempted to break up the fight but injured her shoulder. She went to the hospital to be checked out, according to McDonald, and will have an MRI, but did not stay in the hospital.
Both girls were arrested and charged with fighting and for causing an injury, and released to their parents.
During the second incident, which occurred at approximately 12:20 p.m., according to Sampson, two eighth-grade boys fought outside a classroom. One boy had splashed the other’s sweater with ink. They were separated by a yard supervisor.
During the fight one boy received shoulder injury, probably from the pull and tug of the fight. He was released to a parent who took him to the hospital for X-ray. Both boys were taken into custody and charged with assault and battery. Because the ink splash was intentional one boy was also charged with vandalism.
The boys were released to their parents.
“This, too, was not a gang incident, it wasn’t racial,” McDonald said. “There were no weapons involved. It’s just a typical kind of fight.”
Sampson agreed with McDonald, said these kind of incidents can have many causes, including the weather, spring, hormones, activity levels increasing when kids are outside. Also, as the end of the school year draws near, there can be a little bit of spike in activity. Sometimes students are tired and tempers short.
There was a third incident involving students Wednesday, but this one was at Live Oak High.
A female student, according to Sampson, was involved in a verbal altercation with another female student. The yard supervisor asked her to calm down but she replied with profanity to the yard supervisor. A second supervisor came up and told the student to go to the office but the student allegedly said no, she would beat them both up. The student got into a fighting stance but the yard supervisors used conflict resolution skills and talked her into the office.
The SRO (school resource officer) Max Cervantes arrived from Britton and placed her under arrest for challenging a school official to a fight. Her parents were notified.
