MAITLAND, Fla. — Video of a fight between students at Maitland Middle School is raising concern among parents, particularly ones who have issued complaints about bullying issues for weeks.
The video shows a group of students throwing punches at each other as other students rush in.
The fight happened Wednesday, a couple days before spring break.
Screams and cheers could be heard in the video ad a middle school boy takes off his shirt to go head to head with a middle school girl.
The students gathered in a crowd as the fight went down to the ground.
What’s not seen on the video is any teachers or administrators breaking up the fight.
“It’s getting ridiculous. I’m appalled,” said parent Andrew Hassen.
His sixth-grader was hurt in a different fight weeks ago and he said he has not gotten any answers from school leaders about what they’re doing to keep him safe.
“I wish that they could kind of up security get more people out there, watching to see what’s happening,” said Hassen.
Maitland police said they are stepping up their presence on campus while they and school administrators investigate the latest fight.
Principal Stefanie Shames told parents through a robocall that the students involved in the fight were disciplines through the district’s code of conduct.
“You would hope they could do the right thing, but all we hear is passivity and indifference,” Hassen said.
The fight is the latest in a string of incidents at the school in the last month and a half, including an attempted suicide of a student after bullying threats on social media and another big fight.
Neither the school board chairman nor the vice chair who represents the school were available to speak to Channel 9 about the issue.
Shames didn’t respond to Channel 9’s request for an interview.