MIDLAND, Texas — A new report from Midland ISD during the week of Jan. 15 shows the number of school fights has dropped nearly two-thirds year-over-year.
Students at Legacy Freshman High School are expected to abide by the new district-wide policies, enforced by school staff and Principal Jared Andrews, who has worked within the district for 10 years and is in his first year at Legacy Freshman.
"When I got here, I wanted to set expectations for how we would handle every little thing," Andrews said. "Because I believe that if you deal with the little things first, that'll prevent the bigger things from mushrooming and then having to deal with bigger issues. But I think the district has done a great job of helping us uphold those policies in place."
If a student fights or acts out, they will face disciplinary actions or serious consequences.
"If we've had any issues that put student safety at risk like fights or a student safety has been violated like an assault," Andrews said. "We had planned disciplinary measures in place in order to remove that student. For example, they may be sent to the alternative campus."
Andrews also talked about other situations where fighting can impose consequences.
"If they do it during football season and it happens to take place during their time at DAP (alternative school), takes place during like a homecoming game, they can’t attend the homecoming game because of their place at the alternative campus," Andrews said.
Principal Andrews credits the leadership at MISD, as for why they're able to see a decline in the number of incidents inside the school's hallways.
"I think it's just a great all around effort," Andrews said. "I think the district has done a great job of supporting us. When we put expectations in place and we and when we put consequences in place, I think the students have done a great job of meeting those expectations for the most part. And I think here I would not have been able to successfully implement the policies if it weren't for the staff. Helping me putting those helping see them through."
According to MISD, district-wide in the Fall Semester of 2022, there were 206 fights, compared to only 127 in 2023. In the last six weeks of the fall 2022 semester, there were 88 fights compared to 30 last year. A total of 155 students were apart of a fight in the final week of Fall 2022, compared to 48 in 2023, a drop of over 75%.