Students expelled, removed from St. Augustine High School after ‘brutal attack’

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The St. Johns County school board expelled seven students after what the district calls a “brutal attack” and “full-out brawl” at the bus loop of St. Augustine High School.

The district said it happened in the afternoon of September 25. The school board voted today to remove another student, a 15-year-old girl, from the school because of the fight. We aren’t sharing the student’s name or showing her picture because of her age.

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She came before the school board Tuesday morning in a public expulsion hearing after the superintendent recommended she be expelled for one year. Most of these disciplinary hearings are private, but the family brought an attorney to fight her chance of being expelled and ensure the hearing would be public.

The teen said three students “jumped” her by the bus loop. It started with an argument, but, in less than 30 seconds, video we brought you only on Action News Jax shows the fight getting physical. The district’s narrative of the fight said “[another student] took the first swing, and [the 15-year-old] pushed back. Within just a moment, a student came in swinging and punching rapidly. It took the full strength of [two deputies] and [a dean] to separate the students.”

The district said 14 units with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, three assistant principals, and four deans were among those who responded to the fight. Superintendent Tim Forson was in the room during the hearing. Describing the fight, he said, “In all my experience, I’ve not seen an incident that escalated and was as violent as this one, ever.”

The district said three school staffers, including a dean, were hurt trying to break up the fight. The district’s report and school security camera video show that dean had tried pulling the 15-year-old away from the fight after she was hit. Security video shows the two make it back toward the side of the building and sit down. At that time, the district said the dean was hurt when the girl fought her in an attempt to go back in the direction of the fight.

“I was trying to get my shoes and my phone to call my sister and my dad, but nobody would give me my phone back,” the teen said, describing her altercation with the dean.

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The 15-year-old said the students who started the fight had harassed her multiple times in the weeks before. This is what she said during the hearing:

“When [my sister and I] came [to St. Augustine High School,] I don’t know what happened, but [the students] started messing with me and my sister. We reported it to the dean multiple times, but they didn’t do anything about it.”

Both the teen and the district say the disputes between her and the other students carried over into high school from their middle school years. The dean who the 15-year-old said was told about the supposed harassment said he did receive the reports and tried handling the issue, but acknowledged more could have been done.

“All of those students, I want to make sure they’re in school and they’re taken care of, so I do acknowledge that,” the dean said.

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The student’s attorney advised her not to speak with Action News Jax. But her father hopes never again to see violence like this in schools.

“When you go to school, you go to learn. You’ve got to keep all of this B.S. aside,” said Courtney, the student’s father, whose last name we aren’t sharing to protect the teen’s identity. “Kids need the chance to just live their lives and be kids.”

The 15-year-old will spend the next school year at the Gaines Alternative School in St. Augustine. The district said the school is meant for students who’ve broken significant school and district rules. The student will have access to mental health resources if the family decides to use them.

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