Security increased after high school fight

HOUSTON

Videos of the fight are all over YouTube. One student tells us violence is nothing new to the students at Dekaney.

From the outside, Dekaney was quiet on Friday. We saw police cars from the Spring school district on campus all day.

Thursday's brawl was captured on cell phone by a Dekaney student showing a situation out of control, students running, shoving and hitting each other.

"I'm scared...of getting hurt," one student told us.

This student, whose identity we agreed to protect, cried as she told us about Thursday's ruckus. She told us the violence happens on a regular basis.

"It's just random people. They start running up and down the stairs, they just start hitting people and throwing stuff. On Friday, they were throwing trash cans and popping fireworks at school," said the student.

When we asked her how often it happens, she replied, "Every week."

We wanted to know from the Spring school district exactly what happened Thursday and if what other students have told us about on going violence on campus is true. However, Spring ISD declined our request for a second day in a row for an interview, saying the incident is still a continuing investigation.

Parents tell us they were able to talk to the principal today, but did not get answers about injuries or confirmation on whether anyone was stabbed. We asked one parent if he felt safe letting his child go to school Friday.

"Yes, I had no problem. He woke up and came to school like normal -- there was nothing different," said parent Herschel Smith.

Security beefed up at school Friday morning

The school's principal says they have beefed up security. They've added five additional Spring ISD police officers to their campus, bringing their total to anywhere from 10 to 15 officers patrolling at any one time. And yet parents say after viewing the video of the brawl, they are still worried and they still fear that it could happen again.

"It was like a huge uproar," said a student. "Things were being thrown, people were yelling and screaming."

A Dekaney High School senior, who we are not identifying, says he watched from the sidelines Thursday as the chaos unfolded in the hallway, eventually sending two students to the hospital.

He recalled, "I just saw blood like on the floor while walking to class. I saw like trails and drops of blood and stuff."

It was another Dekaney student who captured the nasty brawl on cell phone video and now that parents have seen it, they are concerned for their children's safety.

The student told Eyewitness News, "I know parents are really terrified. My friend's mom is about to take him out of the school."

A parent said, "That is not supposed to happen. It was a riot."

"I don't understand it," said Christina Nelson. "I want an explanation."

Nelson has two ninth graders at the school and says she wants the district to be more open about how it plans to prevent these types of dangerous incidents from happening again.

She said, "I'm not comfortable and I don't feel that they are doing everything they should do."

But school principal Delic Loyde told Eyewitness News over the phone Friday, incidents like these are not normal on campus and while they still don't know what sparked it, they are investigating. The school has called in extra security.

Meanwhile parents and students fear a repeat.

The student said, "I think the teachers and principals are really trying to keep things under control but they are really outnumbered. It's going to happen again. That's not even a question."

At last check, the principal still did not know the extent of the injuries for the two students wounded in Thursday's brawl. She did say that no one was stabbed. She added that the fight did not involve groups of Hispanic and African-American students battling each other.

The principal says she plans to send a letter home to parents explaining the school's zero tolerance policy.