Schools

Facebook Fight Page Probed By District

Videos of Bridgewater-Raritan fights have been posted on a newly opened Facebook page.

BRIDGEWATER, NJ -- The district is investigating a recently published Facebook page that is filled with videos of recorded fights at Bridgewater-Raritan High School.

The Facebook page, called BRHS Fights, was started March 14, according to records on the public page, and shows videos of fights both inside and outside the school building. They include a lunch period fight, another on the grounds across from the entrance and others, with the latest published March 17.

A post on the Facebook page asks for videos to be sent via email, and promises anonymity. More than 700 people have already "liked" the fledgling page.

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In the comments on one of the posted videos, poster Katy McCall questioned why these fight videos are being posted at all.

"Instead, someone should be taking the initiative to get the page taken down and the kids who are promoting it punished," she wrote on the page. "Why are we rewarding bad behavior with likes?"

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According to Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder, the district is looking into finding the creator of the page.

"The district has no jurisdiction for Facebook sites, and has no legal recourse to remove the information posted," he said. "We are trying to find who is hosting this site, and will ask him/her to remove the fights."

Since March 1, Schilder said, the high school has seen seven different fights—between September and March 1, there were only five in total.

"[The former] is an unusual number in such a short time span," he said. "The average number of fights in any given year is between 20 and 25."

Schilder said the administration responded quickly to all the fights, and multi-day suspensions were handed out to students.

Click here to see what the police chief had to say Wednesday.

But, he said, they are now recorded on the Facebook page.

"Unfortunately, several of the fights were recorded and posted," he said.

Most of the comments on the five posted videos are critical of the fights themselves, with one poster calling one the "stupidest fight I've ever seen." Other posters recall fights when they were at the school years ago, saying those in the past were more "blood drawn fights."

But most posters are not calling for the site to be taken down.

And one poster said this page will just cause more fights.

"This whole Facebook page is just going to give people more incentive to fight, and I agree, these are not bloody fights but then again I don't think they should be either," wrote Nicholas Dante. "I guarantee that most of these fights on this page were over something completely dumb and pointless, immaturity at its finest. It's not worth attempting to hurt another person."

Schilder said there have been no fights at the high school since March 15.

Although there was an unusual number of fights in the 15-day time period between March 1 and March 15, Schilder said, the district has not determined any connection between them.


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