I broke up a fight!

We were in the hallway at 3:30 and the 6th graders were supposed to be lining up for dismissal. I was talking with one of the girls when someone yelled, “They’re fighting!” I looked, and about 8 feet away from me B – about 5′ tall and husky – and C, a much smaller boy, were punching each other. I stepped over there, grabbed B by the shoulders and pulled him away (as some students were pulling C away) and held him against the lockers, telling him to Stop it! and telling the class in general to “Go get the office!” B kept telling me to let him go but C was still nearby so I held on. He was stronger than me and pulled away so I grabbed his T-shirt and held onto it so he couldn’t get to C. I kept telling him to stop and calm down and he kept telling me to let go of him. During this moment, basically almost all of the class disappeared. I told B I would let go if he would sit down on the floor. After more protest, he sat down and I stood guard over him until 3 staff members all showed up kind of at the same time.

Since I laid hands on a student, I went to the office and explained what had happened and wrote it all down for their report. Apparently there are cameras in the hallways (!) so it was all on tape. I got a voice message from the principal later thanking me, saying I didn’t do anything wrong, but they need me to fill out a security report for them.

I did feel a little shook up afterwards, even though it wasn’t dangerous – I guess I started thinking, “What if he HAD started hitting me?” I’m glad it didn’t happen. I would have had to back off. I had been warned about B in the sub notes but we hadn’t really had much difficulty (other than me sending him into the hall to take his math quiz because he would not be quiet). I’m glad he wasn’t angry at me.

I heard a few remarks from the staff about the kids being pretty wound up at this time of year.