In three months, close to 1,200 fights have broken out in Duval County Public Schools, and several schools have had more than 50 fights this school year.
The number of fights at Duval County Public Schools within the past three months is 1,135.
"I can believe it, I can truly certainly believe it," parent Mark Lewis said.
The most fights are happening at middle schools in Duval co. There have been more than 1,100 in 3 months @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/pbHGhGtapi
— Danielle Avitable (@Danielle_NBC4) March 2, 2017
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Kristina Holt’s son is in eighth grade at Arlington Middle School, where there have been 57 fights in three months.
"He says every day there's a fight," Holt said.
She said she has to have a pep talk with him every day before school.
Parents say they are afraid to send their kids to school in fear of them not making it home safe because of all the fights @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/DUPJL2jheS
— Danielle Avitable (@Danielle_NBC4) March 2, 2017
"'Do not get involved, get on the bus, come home and stay safe,'" Holt said.
Tuesday, Action News Jax showed you a video of a fight that happened outside Ed White High School.
There have been 14 fights there in the past three months, down from 34 during the same time period last school year.
According to the district’s statistics, the majority of fights are happening in middle schools.
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The school district sent Action News Jax the following statement:
“The three-month snapshot requested by Action News does not provide the depth required to gauge the number of physical altercations that have occurred in our schools. In fact, if one includes all physical altercation codes in the code of conduct, as compared to last year, the number of fights have decreased from 10,155 to 9,928. District officials and school leadership remain committed to reducing the number of physical altercations in our schools and providing a safe and positive atmosphere for our students. Intervention strategies include counseling, in school and out of school suspensions, behavior contracts, peer-to-peer mediation, and classes for parents and students through our parent academy and student options for success programs.”
But the school district says that fights are down from last year by 2% @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/fcJaPeQK2k
— Danielle Avitable (@Danielle_NBC4) March 2, 2017
"They need to come out and see what is going on, what can they do," a parent said.
A parent said her daughter was hurt during a recent fight at Arlington Middle School and she’s now scared to go to school.
"It’s scary for me because there was a fight that went on one time and she got hit in the face,” the parent said.
There have been 200 fewer fights from the year before, but that year there were more than 10,000 fights, so it is a drop of 2 percent.
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