Fighting at school

Have kids found a place to fight at school where they won't get caught? One mother, whose 14-year old son was injured in a fight Tuesday at Byrd Middle School, says yes. News on 6 reporter Heather

Wednesday, May 19th 2004, 5:52 pm

By: News On 6

Have kids found a place to fight at school where they won't get caught? One mother, whose 14-year old son was injured in a fight Tuesday at Byrd Middle School, says yes. News on 6 reporter Heather Lewin has the story.

Kathy Woodard, concerned parent: "The school called and told me my son had been hurt, they didn't know how but I needed to come to the school."

When she saw her son, Kathy Woodard was shocked.

J.D. Woodard, 8th Grader: "It's my eye and I'm bruised around the back of my head and on the side of my head and got a concussion." Kathy Woodard: "I was like how could my kid fall and be hurt like this?"

Woodard then found out her son was in a fight with another student. J.D. Woodard: â€œHe told me to go in the bathroom, so I went in the bathroom and he swung at me and I guess I swung back at him and I don't remember anything after that." J.D. apparently slipped and hit his head on the sink.

Woodard says she knows her son was fighting; she's upset because his friends say after he was knocked unconscious, the other student kept hitting him. The fight happened in the bathroom at lunchtime.

While most areas of the school have surveillance cameras, for privacy reasons, restrooms don't. Jack Arnold with Tulsa Public Schools: "There's no way we're going to put a camera in the restroom that's not a possibility or even a thought." Arnold, Tulsa schools' safety coordinator, says restrooms aren't a known trouble spot. He says Byrd has two security guards, who, along with staff members, make regular bathroom safety checks. Officials say in this case, the school nurse was on the scene in minutes, the police arrived shortly after. "Fights are no more of a problem here than anyplace else, if you have kids tempers flare things will happen and then they blow on, it's been that way forever. We really are very serious about the supervision of our students, but you can't be everywhere all the time."

Tulsa Public Schools regularly have violence prevention programs, along with a student code of conduct. The usual punishment for fighting is suspension.

The school is still investigating this incident to determine whether both students should be disciplined.