Students and staff alike recognize fights as a problem at South High.

Senior Danial Khursid gives his thoughts on seeing fights at school.

“When seeing these fights directly, I see the danger in them. I’ve seen kids get flipped over and both members getting hurt. I think there needs to be a crackdown on fights,” he said.

Khursid said he thinks the reason for fights breaking out comes down to miscommunication.

“I definitely think there is miscommunication between the parties. Both parties get mad at each other over a small thing and then it snowballs into something bigger,” said Khursid.

Khursid did give a possible solution to limit the number of fights.

“The thing with solutions is they are hard. If teachers see students show aggression before fights, then they should attempt to talk to them and try to calm them down,” he said.

Freshman Seth Higgins said he thinks that fights stem from smaller issues.

“They seem like they come from anger issues or outbursts and then turn into something bigger,” said Higgins.

Higgins gives his solution for preventing fights, but thinks it’s hard to detect them.

“It’s difficult to stop fights before they happen, but talking it out or getting faculty involved,” said Higgins.

Students who are caught fighting don’t go without a consequence. Assistant Principal Jenn Sebold mentions the punishments for students who are caught fighting.

“There are different consequences based on the severity, but all require an out-of-school consequence. If students physically engage in a fight, it is typically a minimum of 10 days out of school. If students or staff are hurt in the fight, or if students do not stop fighting when told to do so by a staff member, then consequences can escalate. Also, if a student habitually fights in school, suspensions can be longer,” she said.

It’s not just students who fight who get in trouble. Students who record the fights and spread the video through social media or texting also get hit with a suspension.

“Students who blatantly record fights can receive an out-of-school suspension,” she said. 

Stopping fights before they happen is easier said than done, but Sebold gives a detailed explanation of how to defuse confrontations.

“If we hear rumors of a fight that may happen or if we are told upfront by students or parents that a fight will occur, we immediately ask kids to meet with us and problem solve. We bring parents into the conversation and sometimes connect them to each other to work through issues. We can put students on no-contact contracts that spell out what is expected in regards to interactions and what consequences are if they don’t hold up their end of the contract,” said Sebold.

Sebold said she never enjoys suspending a student.

“Suspending students for fighting is heartbreaking, but we have to have a safe environment that is violence-free. We only hope that we can teach students how to handle conflict appropriately,” Sebold said.