Deputies put a stop to 'fight week' at West Hernando

Rumors that numerous students were going to start throwing punches in order to rack up the number of fights at West Hernando Middle School prompted deputies to swarm in Friday and deter the melee.

Cpl. Wendy McGinnis, a sheriff's office spokeswoman, said Monday that a school resource officer heard a rumor last week that students were going to start the fights in order to see how many they could start and potentially have the most in the district.

The response, she said, was to have multiple deputies patrol the hallways and other areas of the school in order to keep the peace.

"They went on semi-lockdown," McGinnis said. "Even with their presence, some kids were still apt to want to fight because of the challenge of it supposedly being 'fight week.' We only had one fight that day, which they admitted was because of fight week."

There isn't an official fight week, but McGinnis said some students claimed the goal was to have the most fights compared to any other school, with Powell Middle School being the one to beat.

Last school year, WHMS recorded the most fights throughout the district with 34, or 19 percent of 177 overall incidents. PMS recorded 23.

McGinnis said the important thing is that the WHMS SRO was vigilant and that violence between students was avoided.

"It turns out it wasn't anything major," McGinnis said, "but it could have been."