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Texas School Forced Teens Into Cage Fights

Students ordered to settle differences in bare-knuckle fights as others cheered

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 20, 2009 2:59 AM CDT

(Newser) – Employees at a Dallas high school forced troubled teens to settle their differences in bare-knuckle brawls inside a locker room cage while spectators cheered, says a report obtained by the Dallas Morning News. The principal of South Oak Cliff High at the time did nothing to stop the fights and even orchestrated some of them, the report states. None of the people involved has been criminally prosecuted, and several are still working at local schools.

The former principal once told security staff to put two feuding teens "in the cage and let 'em duke it out," says the report. The principal—who quit last year after a grade-fixing scandal—has denied any knowledge of the fights. But the district superintendent confirmed that there were "some things that happened inside of a cage," and employees were later disciplined. The school has turned itself around under a new principal, he added.

Teachers and administrators at South Oak Cliff High School have come under fire for allegedly sending students into a steel utility cage in an athletic locker room to battle it out with bare fists.
Teachers and administrators at South Oak Cliff High School have come under fire for allegedly sending students into a steel utility cage in an athletic locker room to battle it out with bare fists.   (AP Photo/Tom Pennington)
The South Oak Cliff High School campus in Dallas. School employees were disciplined for pitting students against each other in cage fights.
The South Oak Cliff High School campus in Dallas. School employees were disciplined for pitting students against each other in cage fights.   (AP Photo/Tom Pennington)
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It was gladiator-style entertainment for the staff. They were taking these boys downstairs to fight. And it was sanctioned by the principal and security. - Frank Hammond, ex-counselor who filed a whistle-blower lawsuit after he was fired

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COMMENTS
Showing 2 of 2 comments
riffran
Mar 20, 2009 10:58 AM CDT
dude.....Dallas is a shithole, been there, got the hell out....bad place
riffran
Mar 20, 2009 8:47 AM CDT
good greif...as much trouble as the country has with our school system, THIS crap happens....*sigh*.....I like the message Mr Clark had in the movie "Lean on me"..one of self accountability in the face of adversity, and to encourage the person to achieve...played by Morgon Freeman..."THE LORD TOLD ME TO TEACH THE CHILDREN....AND THATS WHY I THREW THOSE SONSABITCHES OUT"......or something close to that...lol....you dont put them in a cage match..geez

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