Six Charged in KCHS Brawl
A brawl at Kent County High School has resulted in charges of assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct against six teenage boys.
The Kent County sheriff’s office says four deputies were assaulted during fights that started Wednesday morning in a second floor bathroom and broke out again when the youths were taken to the administrative offices.
The boys, whose names were not released, are 14 to 16 years old. Two are from Worton and four from Chestertown.
Sheriff John Price says no serious injuries resulted during the assaults. He said his deputies were “pushed or shoved” by some of the boys when officers started to handcuff others.
The fighting started in the bathroom during first or second period between three youths, the sheriff said. They were taken to the office and detained.
“Some other folks – friends of the boys involved in the first incident — tried to engage in altercation,” said Sheriff Price. “When we got there we assisted the officer (assigned to KCHS) in trying to detain. When we decided to arrest three involved, and started putting handcuffs on them, the other boys acted up and there was resistance.”
Two students were detained at the Carter Youth Facility and four students were released to a family member or guardian.
Sheriff Price said his officers were not able to determine exactly what provoked the fighting in the first place.
These arrests bring the total of KCHS students charged with assault to 13 in the first weeks of this school year. For all of last year 18 students were charged with assault. The total for the entire year before that was 14, according to the sheriff’s office.
All three of our children attended Kent County High School and I once served as President of the Kent County Council of PTA’s. I have a soft spot in my heart (not my head) for Kent County schools. There must be a zero tolerance for violence of any sort at the High School. I believe the rights of the students who are there to receive an education trump the rights of the perpetrators. I don’t know whose children are involved and quite honestly it shouldn’t matter. These young people should be removed from the High School for a period of time and placed in alternative programs. The court system must levy an appropriate punishment to be served in community service or if necessary in our penal system. Perhaps it is time to revisit the idea of reform school. The emphasis being on reform before these young people advance to even greater forms of violence.