After a large brawl at a high school was captured on video, one would think parents would be upset with the students involved for what took place. Instead, they became angry with the school, specifically the resource officer.
The Magnolia School of Excellence in Shreveport, Louisiana, did not live up to its name during an incident that reportedly occurred at the school on a Monday afternoon. Rather than displaying anything remotely like “excellence,” students instead failed to maintain any form of civility as a large brawl broke out, and it was all captured on video. You would be greatly mistaken, however, if you believed that the parents were about to become upset over the violent behavior their little darlings displayed.
The video footage of the incident captured a large group of students, some of whom were watching and recording as at least two girls began throwing punches at each other. The clip was posted to TikTok with a description that read, “Moments before disaster,” according to The Blaze. The footage captured all hell breaking loose. Such a display should cause any parent concern, but unfortunately, parents at the school seemingly directed their frustration at the school resource officer rather than those who created chaos that day.
After reportedly receiving several calls from concerned parents regarding the incident, KSLA was able to obtain and publish a version of the video, which clearly showed a pretty big fight as a hectic and violent scene unfolded. As some students threw fists, others added to the pandemonium with loud yelling and screams. However, the parents who reached out to the outlet weren’t concerned with the complete chaos that unfolded.
Instead of being angered by the big brawl that was captured on video, the angry parents were upset that a Shreveport Officer, serving as a school resource officer on campus, used pepper spray on students to break up the fight and disperse the crowd. Expressing their anger, the parents complained that their children had experienced side effects of the pepper spray after getting sprayed in the incident.
In response to the backlash and complaints, the school released a statement the day after the incident. In the statement, the school characterized the brawl as a fight between two students and only confirmed that the officer had employed pepper spray.
“Magnolia School of Excellence prides itself on creating a safe environment conducive to learning and building strong minds and good hearts. As part of our safety plan, we have a Shreveport Police Officer on campus to maintain a safe learning environment,” the statement read. “During an altercation between two students yesterday, the officer on duty made the decision to legally deploy pepper spray to disperse the crowd,” it concluded.
After watching the clip, calling what took place “an altercation between two students” is a gross misrepresentation. While it may be true that only two students were throwing punches, it’s clear that much more was going on. In fact, one couldn’t even walk down the hall as it was packed with onlookers who only added to the disorder, making the school hallway appear more like a mosh pit than a way to get from class to class.
It boggles the mind that anyone could view the footage, see the complete disruption, and find fault with the single person who brought this disastrous incident to a screeching halt. Since this is the reaction these so-called parents have to such behavior displayed by their children, I’m not shocked that the Magnolia School of Excellence previously received an “F” grade from the Louisiana Department of Education.
Sadly, that didn’t stop the Caddo Parish School Board from voting to extend the charter, with one of the board members saying they voted to continue the charter because the Magnolia School of Excellence accepted children with behavior issues or other issues that made other schools wary of accepting them, the Shreveport Times reported. So, I guess this is just the result of “accepting” children with behavioral issues instead of correcting those behavioral issues. When parents complain about the natural consequences of their child’s behavior, we shouldn’t be surprised that this is the kind of “incident” schools have to deal with.
