Baltimore — On Monday a massive fight broke out in the cafeteria of Woodlawn High School. Video shows students, punching, kicking and screaming. Tables knocked over. Bodies thrown to the ground.
In the video, a student gets trapped beneath two other students who repeatedly punch him in the head.
“It’s a horrific video,” said Ryan Coleman, President of the Randallstown Chapter of the NAACP. “It’s pretty much a brawl. I’d call it a brawl.”
Woodlawn High School, in Baltimore County, has about 1,900 students. According to the Maryland State Department of Education, Woodlawn earns just two out of five stars and ranks in the bottom 17% of all Maryland public high schools. Coleman says student violence is a big reason why academic achievement at Woodlawn is low.
“Woodlawn has been struggling academically for at least 20 years. Enough is enough,” Coleman told Project Baltimore. “We have to make sure it’s safe. If we don’t have safety, if the kids don’t feel safe – I just don’t know how they can learn.”
According to MSDE, over the last three school years, Woodlawn High School has seen a significant increase in student violence. During the 2021/2022 school year, Woodlawn recorded 110 suspensions or expulsions due to attacks/threats or fighting. The following year, that number jumped to 136. Last year, during the 2023/2024 school year, Woodlawn recorded 195 suspensions or expulsions due to attacks/threats or fighting – a 77% increase in just three years.
That’s 195 suspensions or expulsions in a 180-day school year for attacks/threats or fighting.
“I’m a big accountability person. And I think that if you’re going to disrupt other students from learning, then you don’t need to be there and you can go to an alternative school or you can do online learning, but you can’t be in school,” stated Coleman.
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