by JULIE BYKOWICZ
[ from
The
Baltimore Sun ]
Woodlawn High School ninth-graders who gathered yesterday for an assembly on anger management instead got an up-close lesson in violence, when a shoving match grew into a melee that led to two arrests - including one student's mother - and 11 suspensions.
As students on stage acted out peaceful ways to resolve conflict, one student's mother confronted a group of girls who had been bothering her child, authorities said.
Screaming quickly escalated into pushing and hitting, and school officials dialed 911 as the crowd of 750 students erupted into "chaos," said Woodlawn Principal C. Anthony Thompson.
Students stood on their auditorium seats and rushed toward the fighting girls to get a better look, one student said, and soon other fights were breaking out in the auditorium. Continued…
