BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – Students and teachers at Scotlandville High School are experiencing an uptick in violence on campus and school leaders hope to change that trend.
Multiple videos posted to social media show the chaos unfolding in the middle of the day.
East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools Communication Director Letrece Griffin confirmed there were two fights on campus, but no one was injured.
“Our security officers were there to help separate the fight as quickly as possible,” said Griffin.
According to the district, multiple students were involved and at some point parents who were there to check out their children got wrapped up in the madness.
“A couple of parents, I believe, it was some type of way, got involved with the incident, details on that we’re still trying to figure exactly how and to what extent,” said Griffin.
Scotlandville is the same school where a mentorship program is taking place to curb violence in the community.
East Baton Rouge School Board member Dadrius Lanus said “today’s events show why there’s a strong need to put programs inside of schools.”
He said it’s hard to watch the fights unfold knowing the potential the students have.
“It hurts! I’m not absorbed from the pain. We just saw a 17-year-old student just shot down in Tigerland. That was my former student,” said Lanus.
The district said the uptick in violence is not just an East Baton Rouge or state problem, it’s nationwide. It is that very reason the district is implementing programs to stop this from happening.
“We want them to know that we are here to support them as much as possible and we’re aligning resources so we can do that,” said Griffin.
“There is a chance. There is a second chance for those that feel like they have made mistakes, but it’s up to us,” said Lanus.
