DeKalb County

Cafeteria worker, assistant principal involved in fights with students at 1 school

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — It was an unusually violent week at a local high school in DeKalb County.

Police arrested a cafeteria worker for fighting a student, an assistant principal is now on leave for an altercation with a student, and a school police officer injured another student while arresting him.

Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes spoke to district officials about the wave of violence. They confirmed that all of this went on at Cedar Grove High School.

Fernandes spoke to parents about this and they said it’s not the school's fault; It's the students who need to have more respect for the staff.

Videos circulated showing the cafeteria worker on the floor fighting a student – and parents couldn’t believe it.

“Some kind of justice needs to come from that – that’s not good,” said parent Tina Turner.

DeKalb school officials are still investigating who started that fight, but school police arrested the worker and the student.

But parents Fernandes spoke with said they’re not blaming the school for this.

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“I feel sad for the person, you know? The cafeteria worker is there to do a job and these kids don’t respect anybody anymore,” said parent David Johnson.

Just a couple of days before the fight in the school cafeteria, an assistant principal at Cedar Grove got into a heated argument with a student. School police officers had to break up that argument.

Officials placed the assistant principal on leave while they investigate his actions toward the student.

“The school system is there, not to really educate the kids now. It’s more a babysitting job for these teachers now,” Turner said.

Adults who graduated from the school said it was never a violent place.

“When I was going to Cedar Grove, that was the best school. It was the '80s but it was a good school,” Johnson said.

Fernandes spoke with another parent who didn't want to speak on camera, and she said she's afraid to send her daughter to school now.

There was one more incident from last week that officials are investigating, and it landed a student in the hospital.

On Thursday, some students got into a fight and when an officer broke it up and tried to arrest one student, the officer injured his arm. He was transported to the hospital and the student’s mother filed a complaint.

Neighbors who live across the street from the school said they were wondering why they saw so many police officers at the school this week. They also saw an ambulance take a student.

‪I’m working to find out if a bunch of fights involving students & staff at Cedar Grove High School are connected - or...

Posted by Tyisha Fernandes on Tuesday, November 5, 2019