Newtown police: ‘Teenage drama’ led to fights at high school

NEWTOWN — A series of fights at Newtown High School, which led to the arrests of 12 students, began over “hearsay,” according to police.

“It wasn’t gang-related or anything — it was teenage drama,” Police Chief David Kullgren told Hearst Connecticut Media.

He said the altercations started March 16, when a group of girls started fighting in the hallway.

“One of the girls thought another girl was talking about her and (they) confronted each other in the hallway,” Kullgren said.

The police department’s call log from that day shows a dispute reported at the high school at 11:14 a.m.

Two more fights occurred at the school — one on Monday and another on Tuesday — both of which stemmed from the first incident, Kullgren said.

After Monday’s fight, school officials decided to increase security in the school building, especially in shared spaces and bathrooms.

Newtown High Principal Kimberly Longobucco said doing so helped the school quickly intervene in a third alteration that occurred Tuesday.

Police responded to a report of a dispute at the high school at 10:53 a.m. that day, according to the Newtown Police Department’s March 22 call log.

Kullgren said school staff intervened in each of the fights and a teacher was pushed during one of the altercations, but no one was hurt.

“No medical services were called in and there were no on-site injuries reported,” he said.

After investigating, school resource officers issued juvenile summons to 12 students on Wednesday. A juvenile summons still “counts as being arrested,” according to the state website.

They were charged with seconddegree breach of peace, and one also was charged with third-degree assault.

Police said applying juvenile charges was deemed appropriate “due to the particularly aggressive nature” of the incidents, and noted the students involved “chose not to take advantage” of the multiple avenues available for reporting and support for peer-to-peer conflict resolution.

“The big message here is the Board of Education and police department are not going to tolerate this kind of activity in Newtown schools,” Kullgren said. “We want a safe and secure environment.”

Longobucco said the incidents led school officials to review behavioral expectations of students during morning announcements, and the school will continue to hold responsible the students involved.

Students are urged to refrain from posting about anything related to the fights on social media.

“This heightens the situation, has the potential to interfere with an ongoing investigation and may lead to additional consequences, not limited to suspensions, loss of extracurricular activities,” Longobucco wrote in a letter to the school community Tuesday.

The school will continue to assess safety measures with law enforcement as needed, she said, and students concerned about the behaviors of others can report it to an adult or use the school’s Anonymous Alerts application.

Posted on Newtown High School’s Facebook page Thursday morning was a reminder that all students are expected to uphold the school’s behavioral code of conduct and that “fights, arguments and aggression will not be tolerated.”

The post stated school staff and administration “know that we have excellent students and the last two weeks are not representative of who we are as a school.”