Meade High School officials still are pondering what to do with 11 students who started a major brawl last week.
The penalties could range from suspension to expulsion, school system spokesman Tony Ruffin said. As to what the penalties are and when they would be assessed ? the fight happened on the last day of school ? Ruffin said it had not been determined.
Principal Darryl Kennedy did not return calls for comment.
The students were arrested and charged Friday for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest by Anne Arundel County police. The fight, which started in the school gym over a stolen cellular phone, was so out of hand that officers were called in from three different agencies.
The fight has put a glaring smudge on what had been an “outstanding year,” said Otha Thornton, Meade?s PTSA president.
Nothing of this magnitude has happened at the school, Thornton said.
“This has been a great year for us, and we?re really disappointed with the students involved in this matter,” he said.
County police, sheriff deputies and police officers from nearby Fort Meade and the National Security Agency were called in to control the brawl just after 9 a.m. Police said during the fight, students formed a circle around the fighters.
County police said Monday they plan to continue to move forward with the charges. Student Stacie N. Beauford, 18, of Severn, was the lone adult in the fight.
One 16-year-old male student also was charged with possession of marijuana.
Of those arrested, seven were 16 years old, two were 15 and one was 17; seven were males and four were females. There were four juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen.
