By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.-Six Brandon High School students were cited for disorderly conduct after a fight in the school’s parking lot last month and they, as well as a seventh student, are facing additional school disciplinary measures.

“The district is reviewing the incident and appropriate discipline will be applied,” said Superintendent Matt Outlaw. “This is very disappointing and unusual here, we have very few physical altercations and take student safety very seriously. We do not tolerate this type of behavior.”

According to an Oakland County Sheriff’s Office report, the school liaison officer, as well as additional Brandon deputies and a sergeant responded to the melee about 2:29 p.m., May 24, in the south parking lot of BHS,1025 S. Ortonville Road. Background information received was that before the end of the school day, twin brothers had heard that another student had been calling them names. The three were involved in a verbal altercation in the school hallway and each were given a school detention and told by the assistant principal to stay away from each other to avoid further problems.

When the school liaison officer, who had been conducting traffic control, was called to the parking lot for the fight after school, several students were present and he observed the twins yelling at other students and walking in the direction of the student with which they had been involved in the verbal altercation earlier, as well as his friends. The deputy ordered the brothers to return to their car with their sister, also a BHS student, but they continually said that the other subject had hit their sister. The principal and assistant principal were also on scene standing between the boys to prevent further fighting and the brothers were continually pushing the arms of the administrators away in an attempt to get past them to fight with the other subject and his friends.

The brothers continued to ignore verbal commands from the deputy, who unholstered his Taser and advised them if they kept advancing they would be Tased. The sister then yelled at her brothers to go to the car. She told the deputy the subject her brothers wanted to fight had hit her. She was on her cell phone with her mother and was advised by the sergeant to go to her car and get off her phone, to which she responded, “Who do you think you’re talking to?” She was instructed to go to her car before she was taken to jail, that it was understood she was upset, but she wasn’t helping matters. Her brothers finally went and stood at the car.

After all students were calmed and separated, the principals stated they observed seven students involved in the “chaotic melee and swinging arms and fists.” Several other students witnessed the incident. Video footage was also obtained from surveillance cameras. Another school employee had observed the sister push and hit the subject that had been accused of attacking her. She did not see him push or hit her.

All of the students involved reside in Pontiac and attend Brandon as an open enrollment school of choice. As a schools of choice district, Brandon accepts students who reside outside the district boundaries, as long as they do not have a record of disciplinary problems. In 2015-16, out of a total of 2,834 students enrolled in the district, 435 attended using the schools of choice option. These students must find their own transportation to school here, as busing is not offered outside of district boundaries.

Outlaw said the district is not changing anything related to the schools of choice policy.

“Students come here because it is safe, because the environment is welcoming to kids and that is something we are going to maintain as a school system,” he said.