Reply With Quote
Five students were arrested and three were hospitalized after a fight erupted at Jones High School this morning between teenagers from Houston and New Orleans - prompting Houston Independent School District leaders to say they will increase police presence at the campus.
A student from New Orleans was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital for facial injuries and two Houston students - one of whom was a girl - were treated for face and rib injuries.
Two of the arrested students - 15- and 16-year-old boys - were from New Orleans. The other three boys - two 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old - were from Houston. All five were charged by HISD police with disruption of school activities, a Class C misdemeanor.
HISD will not stand for these types of fights, spokesman Terry Abbott said.
"The quickest way to earn a ticket out of Jones High School and into detention is to hurt one of those students from New Orleans," Abbott said. "They've made it very clear to the Jones High School students that the children from New Orleans are our guests. We must treat them with all the dignity and respect we can.''
New Orleans students are also being reminded that they must follow the rules, he said.
About 200 evacuees, many of whom are bused from Reliant Center, attend Jones High School.
The fight broke out at 8:15 a.m., when students were arriving by bus. A Jones High School student tossed a soft drink can into a group of New Orleans students, Abbott said.
About 20 to 25 students were involved in the altercation.
All of the students who were arrested will be placed at alternative sites, Abbott said.
