Portland police say they are investigating a fight involving several male students last week in a hallway at Portland High School.
A 43-second video of the fight, which took place Thursday, June 8, has been posted on Twitter and shows several boys punching and kicking one another while students can be heard using foul language. A table was knocked over and one student is seen chasing others down a hallway.
The person who posted the footage described it as a knife fight, but the district said in a statement Monday that no knife was involved.
“One student pulled out a utility tool but it was not opened during the incident,” the school department said. “However, it is considered a weapon and is treated as such by our policies.”
Tensions between the boys began earlier in the week when a student in a vehicle shouted foul language at another student while driving by.
“The students don’t know each other and when they saw each other in school, the posturing continued and a physical fight resulted,” the school department said.
Though the person who tweeted the video said the high school went into lockdown for 20 minutes, the school department said there was no lockdown.
“Because the incident took place just before the school’s second lunch period, school administration asked classrooms to hold students prior to dismissing them for lunchtime so that staff could get the students involved to the office. The school did not have a lockdown,” the school department said.
The district said a school administrator responded to the altercation and intervened. The high school has disciplined those directly involved in the fight, which was reported to the Portland Police Department. The ages and grades of the students have not been released.
District officials said they have assessed the potential for future conflict among the students and determined “there is no ongoing issue.”
“Portland High School takes safety seriously and is committed to working on resolving conflicts to ensure the safe atmosphere that all students deserve,” the district said in Monday’s statement.
Portland police spokesman Brad Nadeau said in an email Monday that the fight is under investigation. Nadeau said no further details will be released at this time.
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