By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
Junction City Police Chief John Lamb is confirming that there was a "large melee" in the Freshman Success Academy cafeteria area on Thursday. Police estimate that it involved approximately 13 or 14 students. He stated that working with school officials they have identified all of the students and have taken the necessary reports.
Lamb said there will be a security meeting on Monday to talk to District officials about the security steps police will take with prosecution and moving forward with "taking the necessary course of an action."
In order to stop the violence Lamb noted that he felt the tone had to be set at the beginning of the year. "Moving forward I really want to set a strong tone next year when we go in with our school resource officers, letting them know that this type of behavior is not tolerated. It is criminal. " Lamb added working with school officials, police will take necessary actions "to hold people accountable for this type of behavior." Lamb added law enforcement and the school need to set a strong tone at the beginning of the school year.
No arrests have been made. Lamb said he had been informed that school officials wanted to charge the students with Disorderly Conduct instead of Battery because it was just a large fight. " But I want to revisit that and look at what else we can possibly do. "
USD 475 Superintendent Dr. Reginald Eggleston confirmed for JC Post that there was a fight between some students on Thursday in the freshman cafeteria at the high school and District officials are in the process of investigating and identifying everyone who was involved. "At this present moment disciplinary action will be determined. We will meet Monday in order to finalize any actions that need to be made."
Eggleston confirmed that right now officials are uncertain what caused the fight. "Don't know all of the details of that at this present moment, don't know if there was any disagreements or if something happened outside of school. At present we'll still need some time to kind of unravel all the pieces to it."
The Superintendent confirmed that safety is always the number one priority for the school district and that they do everything to try and respond appropriately to information that they have received, or anything on which they need to take action "We're going to do everything in our power to make sure we create a culture and climate in the building that is conducive to learning so that everyone involved can be productive in the environment."
USD 475 has issued a text statement that District leadership was aware of fights that took place at JCHS this week. They noted that they take these incidents seriously and are working with local law enforcement in addressing this situation, and will take the necessary steps to reduce incidents in the future. The message read that it's important for the public to know that the safety and well-being of the District's students and staff is our top priority. We want all kids to learn in a safe environment and feel safe coming to school.