Six middle-school students were arrested May 15 for rioting outside St. John’s Jesuit High School, according to police reports.

One of the students’ parents was arrested on charges of obstructing official business, disorderly conduct intoxication and resisting arrest.

None of those arrested attend St. John’s Jesuit.

The high school, located at 5901 Airport Highway, had invited area sixth- and seventh-graders to an open dance that night. About 800 students were in attendance, the high school’s principal, Brad Bonham, said in a May 19 phone interview.

When students were leaving, two attendees had a fistfight in the parking lot, St. John’s Jesuit Director of Communications Chris Alexander said in a May 17 phone interview.

“Initially in the fight it was just girls,” Bonham said.

The fight drew attention from dance attendees, who were just leaving the dance. Bonham said some boys jumped into the fight. The situation escalated and the police were called, Alexander said.

An officer had to “go through several hundred kids” in order to arrest one suspect, who was observed hitting another child, the report said.

“When this happened,” the report said, “the rest of the children started to run all around yelling and screaming.”

Bonham said about 20 parents were chaperoning the event, along with about 15 high school students and six police officers.

He said the high school has hosted about 16 such open dances in the past four years. School officials have not made a final decision about the future of these dances, he said.

“We’re in the process of just assessing everything, and trying to look at what can be changed,” he said.

Tags: St. John's Jesuit, Toledo Police Department

This entry was posted on Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 4:35 pm and is filed under Community, Courts, Education.
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