Two high school softball teams in Atlanta, Georgia, will not be allowed to take part in the state playoffs after a fight broke out between them on Wednesday.
Reports said the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) made the decision to ban the South Atlanta High School and Booker T. Washington High School softball teams from the playoffs, the first round of which were scheduled to begin on Tuesday.
Video of the fight shows team members and attendees rushing the field after the game on Wednesday. A lone police officer is seen standing in the midst of the brawlers as two players fight with each other in the dirt.
The fight took an even more serious turn when an adult reportedly pulled a gun out and shot a bullet into the air. However, the suspect was arrested once the fight died down.
In a statement prior to the ban, the APS said, “The students involved will be disciplined in accordance with Atlanta Public Schools student discipline policy. Atlanta Public Schools Police are investigating the incident and more arrests could be made.”
However, some parents were not pleased with the decision to ban the teams.
“APS let us down. There was nobody there to help these girls,” one mother said.
In a written statement on Monday, APS spokesman Ian Smith wrote that all students and parents are required to obey the school’s code of conduct while on school property.
The statement continued:
This decision to have both teams forgo the postseason was a difficult one. However, all students, student athletes and parents representing APS are required to adhere to a code of conduct that calls for respect and appropriate behavior at school or on school property at any time, off school grounds at any activity, function or event and while traveling to and from such events, and on vehicles provided for student transportation by the district.
The APS code of conduct for students stated that “extracurricular activities, such as clubs and athletics, may impose their own standards of conduct, violations of which may not be a violation of the Code of Conduct but may result in extracurricular penalty or removal from the activities.”
However, the mother of a Booker T. Washington High School senior told the school board on Monday that it was the South Atlanta High School team who beat up her daughter and her teammates.
“The game being taken from them…made it to regional championship. A game they can’t play no more because of a fight,” she concluded.
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