Second student raises battery allegations against Osceola High School principal

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A second Osceola High School student is now accusing the principal of going too far.

The accusations stem from the celebration after a big win by the boys basketball team.

The principal is accused of shoving one student and grabbing another by the hair, and is now under investigation for battery.

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The team is playing for a state title and will be back on the hard court Friday night for a semifinal game against South Miami in Lakeland.

Two different students accused the principal of battery that took place in the gymnasium at Osceola High School on March 1.

With a roar of excitement, Osceola High School was celebrating the boys basketball team's big win over defending state champ Oak Ridge.

During the on-court celebration, OHS Principal Nia Campbell can be seen in cellphone video wearing a blue sweatshirt and gray pants, allegedly pulling kids by the arm and making her way through the crowd.

“It wasn't a hostile kind of environment,” said one parent who didn’t want to be identified. “You know they were celebrating their win, which was an awesome thing.”

That parent has filed a complaint with Kissimmee police after she said Campbell gave her freshman son a hard shove in the back.

This allegation follows a battery complaint by senior basketball player Deshawn Jones, alleging Campbell pulled him out of the crowd by his hair.

It's hard to see, but you may be able to see Jones, with no shirt on, near the principal as his head snaps back and, eventually, he leaves the crowd.

An attorney for the school district said hairpulling is not a standard acceptable approach, but each case has to be looked at individually.

The mother WFTV News spoke with believes the hairpulling it was inappropriate and said her son is now fearful on campus.

“I don't want my son to feel that, and he doesn't deserve that. Neither of the children deserve that,” she said.

She believes the students would have been arrested, expelled or, at the very least, suspended if they had done the same thing to the principal.

She wants the principal removed from school and wants other parents of children in that crowd to file a complaint.

The district said it is waiting for police to finish the investigations. Then the superintendent will sit down with legal counsel and the human relations department to evaluate the facts and decide the appropriate action.