Massachusetts

Middle School Fight Leads to 2 Girls' Arrests

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Fists were flying outside Rogers Middle School in Rockland, Massachusetts, when two eighth-grade girls got into a fight at dismissal time.

"They were screaming and yelling and saying really bad cuss words and stuff," said student Alyssa Russell, who witnessed the incident.

The fight was seen by dozens of others heading home for the day.

"The teachers were telling people to run and they were trying to pull the kids back," said Jocelyn Duhaine, who also saw the fight. "But they couldn't really pull the kids back because they were all trying to get each other."

Both of the girls were arrested when police showed up.

The father of one of the two girls involved in the fight said that there have been bullying issues at the school, and that his daughter was sticking up for someone who had been picked on.

"She was leaving to get on the bus to go home and she was approached by the group of girls and she was struck," said the father, who did not want to be identified. "She never struck another student, she never instigated the situation beforehand."

He says the arrest was traumatizing for his daughter.

"Physically, my daughter's tough," he said. "I'm not worried about that part at all, I'm more worried about the mental thing."

Several parents say bullying has been a problem at the school for years.

"It's terrible," said parent Beverly Duhaine. "Because these kids just want to learn and they can't focus because they're worried about the next time someone's going to bully them or if they're going to get jumped."

In all of the commotion, the school principal ended up getting pushed, but she wasn't hurt.

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