How can they say they have not heard of any disturbances supposed to happen today when our kids are coming home saying they are scared there will be a huge fight today (Friday)!!!! These types of rumors must be taken seriously or they will have another Columbine situation on their hands. Again who is runnign the instituiton?

I have 2 children that attend C Milton. Every single day for at least the last 2 weeks, they have come home and told me about a fight that happened that day. It is disturbing.

There were 7 fights in the school this week. Parents have been calling the school and the Board all week. Why is this story a cover up?????

This week alone my child has said there were 6 or 7 fights in the school. I have tried contacting the school all day today and have gotten a busy signal. We as parents, like to think that when our child is attending school that they will be safe. Why is it that only this incident warranted a robo-call? What about the other 5 or 6? These two students may have been disciplined, but what about those involved in the cases? From what I understand, CMW has the most free time in between classes. Maybe this time should be reduced in hopes to avoid these incidences?

The students run the school not the teachers or administration. It was that way when I was there and always will be. How can you blame administration when the students out number the faculty 100 to 1.

This article sounds like the fight was no big deal!! I heard the fight involved a knife and stabbing! If they are trying to sugar coat this...they are just dumb! Parents need to know the truth in any case so they talk to their kids and make them aware of what is going on around them!!

My daughter has told me students have been postng on social media that a fight is supposed to happen on a certain day & time & crowds of students show up to watch. Yesterday apparently was another such day & the kids who were supposed to fight weren't there so 2 other kids got in a fight. The SD & school system can try to spin it however they want, but I'm sure there was no coincidence to the increased Law Enforcement presence & the planned fight. There have been multiple fights @ the school in the recent few weeks, what is CMW, HCSD & the HCPS doing to fix this problem? Because it appears they are doing nothing!

@volunteer mom; there was no stabbing? i was there and saw the whole thing like get your facts straight before you start spitting out stuff you dont even know is true & scaring people.

@kelly; that would only make things worse and increase the anger and frusturation... i attend CMW, and i think there is just something in the school lunches that is making everyone weird.

I'm sure the school admin, HCSD and HCPS have nothing better to do with their time than to watch and wait for fights. My opinion, cell phones, PDA's and tablets should be banned during school hours. If you don't agree with that, monitor your child's usage and see what, if any, occurs during school hours. Take the thing away if they use it during school hours. Rumors add fuel to the fire, even if it starts as a small spark. I survived school without all of the technology available today, why can’t they.

I'm so tired of hearing why the school admin, teachers, HCSD or HCPS should be responsible for everything. That is taking away time from students who want to learn. Parents need to be more involved with their kids and what is going on in their everyday lives. Please don't take this out of context, I'm sure the majority of parents are involved with their kids, but, lets be honest, we can't blame everything on everyone else all the time. Sounds like some of these kids need a good swift kick in the arse.

All of the students fighting at C.Milton Wright are making fools of themselves. They fight because they think that its "cool." They aren't just making fools of their selves, but they are also giving a bad name to me and my fellow non fighting students at C. Milton Wright. These kids are ridiculous. If you suspend the students for fighting, you are just giving them something that they will enjoy, a few days off of school. If the students are charged with assault, that's not something they want. Why hasn't this been done for any of the other 9 fights...?

There have been a total of 7 fights all in all. Not just this one... and the security was more than 2 cops there have been a cop at every stairs and exit. The school is like a jail.

After reading this article many questions sprung into my cranium that made me re-read this possible exaggeration of a fight between 10th graders. I asked myself; who would charge a 10th grade child with assault over a school-yard scuffle? How does one blame a brawl on cell phones? “Rumors” were mentioned twice but never elaborated on and when I checked the comments, I was greeted by information that seemed to be more useful than the contents of the article.
One person wrote; “There were 7 fights in the school this week… Why is this story a cover up?”
According to the article, the coincidentally added police presence does not prove that anyone was aware of a planned fight. One Patch-reader replied with “How can they say they have not heard of any disturbances supposed to happen today when our kids are coming home saying they are scared there will be a huge fight.”
Let us rely on the facts to set us straight; Thursday, February 2nd, two 10th graders were involved in a fight in a hallway in C. Milton Wright High School. Lt. Carl Brooks said that the incident was minor and yet both parties involved are being charged with second degree assault. Teri Kranefeld, manager of communication for the school system, was quoted saying, “Rumors spread by the use of student cell phones are complicating and perpetuating the issue.” Anonymous Patch readers hint (and I conclude) that by listening to the rumors, this fight may have been prevented in the first place

7 - 9 fights in two school weeks, these two kids are the only ones charged with assault, and there WEREN'T weapons involved? I find that very suspicious. I agree about the cell phone usage that Tom referred to, but it's a fine line in today's world of senseless violence for the sake of looking cool, like Austin mentioned, and a repeat of Columbine. Working in technology, I can tell you that the educational industry is anxious to develop emergency notification applications that could be deployed during a threat/attack/incident, potentially saving lives by locking down facilites faster and getting emergency responders onsite quicker. But part of that success would come from the students and teachers being able to report incidents in real time...

Austin - you're right - there are a great group of kids at CMW; I have two kids there myself, and none of their friends are the type that would be involved in any of this nonsense. Suspention takes the problem out of the school, and into the streets. And I agree with Tom 100% - as a parent, I cannot and will not put the onus on the school administration completely. I've been accused by my kids of being the 'meanest Mom' on the street for the rules and limitations I impose on them - GOOD! I take pride in being mean, if the result is having kids who follow the rules and stay out of trouble!!

C. Milton has become a joke. I'm glad i got out right before all the dip****s came in. And of course, there are many good natures smart kids there but unfortunately for them, cmw could be on the front of "one bad egg spoils them all" poster (that's probably not the right saying). But as far as the cell phones being taken away, yeah that's great. But what you all probably don't know is that if the student is suspected of anything administration goes through their phone. Anyone have a problem with that or just me? Isn't it the parents job to invade privacy not their teacher wannabe FBI detectives? I don't really understand it all. They are school yard scuffles. I'm sure all of us have seen our fair share or even been in a few. What do you think is going to happen when you mix 3000 kids of different clicks together? It won't rain butterfly's and gum balls that's for sure

Previous comment by me is not a knock on administration or the teachers. Some of my greatest teachers have been at cmw. Boils down to the kids.

what's sad is I knew about the big fight today (Friday) and I don't even have a teen in that school. We don't want another Jonesboro, Ak or Columbine, Co here in this county or any other. The school needs to step up and take note what is going on in social media and how it affects the school and the students.

I would like to start out by saying that cell phones are not needed in school. If there is an emergency, the school is responsible for calling the parents. As we all know, todays phones are equipped with internet access, texting, cameras etc. Why do kids "need" this in school? Medical reasons? The school has a nurse. Kids are on facebook all the time including during class time. Maybe that is why our kids are not number 1 in the world when it comes to education. Instead of listening and paying attention in class, kids are facebooking. In todays ecnomy, with either both parents working, or a single parent just trying to get by, parents need help at school. I am by no means saying let's put this on the school administration, but rules at school need to change. Just saying you cannot take out your cell phone during class or it will be taken away is not enough. Cell phones should not be allowed in school period. Now I know some kids follow the rules and have their phones for after school before mom and dad get home in case of emergency. I understand that. But parents need to step it up and discipline there kids and not put it on the school. Todays attitude of blaming everyone else has to end. A return to being responsible for your actions needs to return. Get the cell phones out of school.

Could it be that many kids in this county are using heroin, and many other types of drugs these days? Harford County is becoming number 1 in the state of MD for drug use. Every parent should closely monitor their kids, their friends, etc. It seems like it is easy to get mixed in with the wrong crowds and get into drugs. They should be teaching kids that only 3% of heroin users successfully quit. If the point is driven in your head that 97% of people who regularly use heroin will not be able to stop and their lives become wrecked then maybe more will refrain from trying it!!

I am a parent of a young teenager and I think that eceryone needs to stop blaming everyone else and make the parents of these children responsible. If the child is involved and charged than the parent should be charged as well. They have raised or not raised this child to have respect for others and they should have to face the judge and punishment as well. This will force the parents to be more involved like the parents of the ones who have the respect and want to go to school learn and make a life wotrth having in the future.

I say....kick all their little a...s out, and let them try to find a job, they don!t know lucky they are. and cmw....always making the papers! Always some bs going on there! Thought school was about Education!, Teachers are not babysitters.

This appears to look on the surface like your run of the mill school fight, fights in school have been happening since there were schools. I think this drama hungry society we live in now perpetuates what people want to hear. It sounds like this thing took on a life of it's own and rumors spread like wildfire. Get a grip!

It's been 20 years since I was in high school and we always heard about "the big fight" for that day, or at the burger king later that night.... This is nothing new. Sadly, what's changed is the parenting of our kids. It starts far younger than HS. I'm shocked at the number of my 11 year old daughter's friends who watch pretty little liars and tv shows like that. And these are shows on ABC family. A so called "family" station! If so many kids and parents knew about this where were you? Why weren't you peppering the school and county administration with phone calls and voicemails?

these comments are ridiculous. The parents gossip more than the students. I go to C Milton and found out about every single fight without using my cell phone. Just because kids have their cell phones, it's not changing that fact that people are fighting. There was absolutely no stabbing involved- again shows that parents gossip more than the students. There were five fights before this one, so I believe that is why there was increased police prescence. The administrators have banned cell phones as much as they can- if you are seen with one at any time of day it is taken from you- but that doesn't stop kids from using them. Stop spreadin rubies and take it as it is- yes, students fought this week. Yes, the administration has tried to stop it and are considering taking away time in between class. Yes, the thousands of kids not involved in fights are perfectly safe, the fights are planned ahead of time. I've never seen a spur of the moment fight. Ever. So parents need to stop spreading dumped because you look really ridiculous.

spreading rumors** not rubies, autocorrect (:

No wonder the kids at my school are messed up, most of you parents are whack jobs. These are regular, plain-old, school fights. Same as when you all were kids. No stabbing. No knives. Kids like to embellish. Kids like to say there were ten fights last week when there were seven; they like to say that there was a knife instead of a pencil. As parents, you should be aware that teenagers stretch the truth. And you should calm down and stop hovering. If your kid's smart enough to stay out of fights, your kid'll be fine.
Now stop smack talking the entire student body, administration, and school system because a couple kids exchanged some punches. Most of you all seem like the sort of people who're only content when the world's ending.

Casey and Kassy....I agree.

And, for someone to compare this to Columbine is just ludacris!

As a former teacher and administrator who worked in a much more difficult setting than that a C. Milton Wright, I think that a big chunk of Kassy's analysis should rule this argument. Cell phones are a way of life and they lead to exaggerations in the short-term, when everyone is excited, and in the long-term, when anxious parents start cross-examining their kids.

Fights happen and, in every situation except gang-related situations, they settle some things, such as who is not going to accept being bullied and who will stick up for whom.

Stabbings are rare, although knife-toting has become more and more common. Young people are afraid because the instant media features violence, but the use of knives is infrequent because young people have learned restraint.

Sadly, it appears that he glare of publicity caused the suspensions, none of which is not to say that family-school-family conversations did not have to take place to restore stability. Hopefully a professionally facilitated reinstatement conference will make that happen.

C. Milton Wright is a good school that can certainly manage this small problem. Parents and the larger community have a lot to be thankful for in that regard.

Who raised these kids? Parents can blame the school, teachers and Sheriffs Dept. all they want. But why don't they ever think about who is really responsible for their children's actions? Maybe if the parents were held responsible for their "Thug" kids, things would change!

Kids will figure a way to keep their cell phones on them in the schools. as far as the parents should be concerned - wake up - and stop thinking your kids are saints. i have been in high school with my daughter - and the disrespect there is unbelievable. how many times did they need to throw the f-bomb my way - even seeing i was right in front of them. parents need an overhaul - and need to re-strategize parenting skills. it's way scary ......

Idea - instead of suspension, send the fighters to a Baltimore City public high school for a week. Cute little white kids in Hollister and Uggs breaking bad at Dunbar, can you imagine?

Good point, Hazzard. You know your stuff. We can clear one thing up. These young people are not hard. They fight only when they can get a free ride to school, a captive audience of their peers, and only when there are enough adults nearby to make sure it does not get out of hand. Nobody gets hurt too badly when soft kids fight.

Hard kids do not even come to school. Hard kids are about money and without street cred, you can't make money and hang on to it. Hard kids will fight to the death over respect.

Hazzard you are so right! I transfered my kids to Harford County from Balto county this year for middle and high schools and my kids tell me that the fights in HCPS are a joke compared to BCPS. They think HCPS is like a walk in the park and they weren't even in a bad part of Balto county. LOL. I think the C Milton parents are blowing this way out of proportion. Kids fight in all schools. There is nothing earth shattering going on. These parents have just getting a dose of reality in their spoiled little Bel Air environment.

I do agree that it all comes down to parenting. Does anyone tell their kids "NO" anymore? All these TV shows promoting teen pregnancy like "Celebrity" Teen Mom where you can have a child at 16 and make money and Sweet Sixteen where you too can be given cars and huge parties for acting like a complete spolied brat. So frustrating to watch! I raise my kids to be grateful for what they have and hard work is rewarded. These parents doing all this "super sleuthing" like checking emails and FB pages are just creating an enviroment of super criminals that learn from an early age how to hide things. It creates a false facade that you are somehow in control of everything when you have no clue what your kids are doing behind your back because they are afraid to talk to you because you are a control freak!Teach yor kids to be trustworthy and you won't need to worry about it.

Good Mom-I respectfully disagree. I have taught my children to be trustworthy and I also monitor their activities. They all have jobs, are honor roll and are very respectable members of society. We have very open communication but they know there are rules and expectations. It's not a matter of being in "control or super sleuthing", it boils down to teaching them right from wrong and making an impression on them that there are and will be consequences for their actions not only at home but for the rest of their lives in the outside world.

Lori, you just proved my point. You taught your kids to be trustworthy. You can monitor until you are blue in the face, but the child has to be taught correctly from the beginning. Kids shouldn't be allowed to have cell phones and FB if they can't be trusted to begin with. They too are straight A students, grateful for anything they receive and have far better manners than any kids I know. They are given freedom until they give me a reason to doubt their actions.
I have personal experience with several friends and family members that think they are some kind of Super Parents because they rip the phones out of their child's hands to check their texts and think somehow that means the child knows right from wrong because they checked on them. Their children are some of the most devious kids I have ever met.
My point is that if you expect your child to be untrustworthy, you will be granted your wish everytime. You have set the bar very low for them.