Rumors about a supposed “gang” fight that took place at J.Z. George High School have some in the community scared. However, Superintendent Billy Joe Ferguson said it didn’t happen exactly the way it’s being told.
Ferguson said the truth is much different than what people are saying.
According to rumors, a 30-person fight took place in the J.Z. George cafeteria, stemming from a separate incident that did not take place on school campus. And the rumors have spread like wildfire. The fight has been talked about in several media outlets and all over Carroll County.
However, Ferguson said the stories that have been told about the fight are simply not true. He wouldn’t go into too much detail, but he did squash the rumor of the 30-person fight. He doesn’t deny that a fight took place in the cafeteria.
Ferguson said there may have been 16 people, not 30 and it wasn’t a gang, involved in the fight. He said the incident started two weeks ago on a Saturday when a brother and sister were walking to town in Vaiden and they were approached by someone who was not a student. That person hit the student, and the student pressed charges on the male.
He said when the student was in the cafeteria the following Monday eating breakfast, he saw some of the boys that were there, and he “blanked,” hitting one of the boys involved. Ferguson said that’s how the fight began.
He said it was basically friends defending their friend. Ferguson did acknowledge that there were student athletes involved and they were defending another person. He said it may have lasted two minutes total.
Ferguson said the students were then suspended and their parents picked them up from school. All of those involved and their parents went before the Carroll County School Board, and the board decided the appropriate punishment.
Ferguson told the Greenwood Commonwealth that 6-8 students were expelled due to their part of the incident and other students were suspended.
Ferguson said he doesn’t want people to think there are “gangs” at J.Z. George or to be afraid to the point they don’t want their children to attend school.
Ferguson declined to comment on the matter further, citing it a student matter.
