Parents say fights on high school campuses across the Riverside School district are out of control and only getting worse.
The concern from parents follows an incident at Ramona High School on Wednesday where an 18-year-old male student and his 14-year-old sister were arrested after an incident of student unrest occurred during lunchtime.
Police said the 18-year-old refused to comply with school officials during the incident. When the school officer attempted to detain him, he resisted and that’s when his sister allegedly attacked the officer, said Riverside police.
Parents say incidents like this are becoming increasingly common within Riverside district campuses and it’s time for changes to be made.
An open-session board meeting to address the issue took place on Thursday with parents and community members in attendance.
A video from another fight breaking out at Martin Luther King High School during lunchtime on Monday shows two students getting violent as others watched nearby.
Disciplinary action has been taken against both students by the school and officials said the incident has been documented with Riverside police.
Some parents said large fights have been seemingly breaking out almost weekly across district schools and they’re worried for their child’s safety.
“I’m just thinking to myself, ‘What are they doing to protect these kids, really?’,” said Roxanne Marshall, a parent at Martin Luther King High School. “I just want these kids to feel safe when they’re at school. They shouldn’t not want to come to school. There needs to be more things put in place so when they’re here, they’re comfortable.”
“It worries me with my daughters,” said Matthew Inglese, another RUSD parent. “I’m 100 percent thinking of taking my daughters out of RUSD and changing districts because of the fact that I don’t feel like they’re doing enough.”
Riverside Unified School District responded to KTLA’s request for comment by saying:
“I want to assure you that we handle all discipline matters swiftly and appropriately per California Education Code. Due to student privacy, we cannot provide details on students and discipline actions taken, but know that we do take action. I want to emphasize that student and staff safety and well-being is a top priority and we work with our emergency response partners daily to assure that we are adhering to this priority and communicating quickly to our families.”