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DCPS: School officials can intervene during school fights

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News is finding out what teachers and staff can do when fights break out in local schools.

You may remember watching the video of a brawl outside Lee High School in Jacksonville, which forced a school resource officer to intervene. Some questioned whether he went too far to stop it.
 
On Tuesday, we showed you video of three girls fighting on the track at Jefferson Davis Middle School, but the victim's mother said her daughter was jumped twice and that a school employee didn't try to stop it. 
 
"The staff could have defused this," said mother Regina Caldwell.

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On Wednesday, another parent broke her silence, saying that her niece's teacher didn't stop three boys from jumping her inside a classroom at Jefferson Davis. 
 
"The three boys kept punching her and hitting in her and stuff," said Thomasina Strigglers. 

Action News contacted Duval County Public Schools to find out if school officials can intervene. They sent us recommendations from the Florida Education Standards Commission that said, "The Commissions believe very strongly that an educator should not feel compelled to use reasonable force. However, they also believe that an educator cannot choose to do nothing in the face of a potentially disruptive situation. The educator must exhaust all other options to decrease or defuse the situation. "
 
Parents said they expect school officials to protect their children when they can't.
 
"Stop them, intervene or pull them off," said Strigglers.   

DCPS also said every situation is analyzed on its own set of facts to determine whether or not a school official should intervene.

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