Internet, social media tarnish Newark High's image, leaders say

• There were 78 students involved in fights last year%3B more than 1%2C500 students are enrolled at Newark High
• Across Delaware%2C 2%2C495 fighting and disorderly conduct offenses were reported during the last school year involving 3%2C368 students

After police were called to Newark High School for the second time in a week on Friday, local leaders are urging parents not to read too much into incidents they say were exaggerated by social media and the Internet – and don't reflect the true culture of the school.

A bomb threat was called into the school Friday morning, causing students to evacuate to the football stadium and police to be summoned.

Two boys started fighting in front of an officer in the stadium and the officer used pepper spray to break up the fight, said Lt. Mark Farrall, a Newark Police Department spokesman. The two who were fighting are now facing charges.

Two other students who were hit by pepper spray were treated by the school nurse, said Wendy Lapham, spokeswoman for Christina School District.

On Monday, three different police agencies responded to Newark High when two fights broke out. There were originally 14 students facing disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges from those fights, but police have since cleared one student.

Both incidents drew parents worried about their students' safety to school. Some said they are frustrated about what they hear goes on at the school.

"It's the fourth time this week that it's been something," said Umaymah Abdul-Ahad, who rushed to the school Friday after hearing about the problems. "First it was the riots, then something with a BB-gun and now a bomb threat. It's sickening."

In referring to "riots," Abdul-Ahad was talking about Monday's incident, when a fight in the cafeteria that was broken up by school staff spilled into the hallways. Police had initially reported that students were calling Monday "riot day" on social media, but later realized that students had merely taken pictures of the fights as they happened and posted them on social media.

The first Newark Police officers on the scene reported that "hundreds of students" were fighting and that was reported to and posted on delawareonline.com

But officers soon realized, after making their way through crowds of students in the hallways, that only a few students were fighting. Newark Police relayed that information to Delawareonline.com and the headline "hundreds" and the story were changed.

School officials say the incidents contrast the fact that Newark High has seen significantly fewer discipline problems this year.

There were 135 disciplinary incidents reported during August and September, compared to 430 incidents in the same period last year.

Most of those incidents were for "defiance" from students to staff or for other lesser charges. Only 12 fighting incidents have been reported this year, Lapham said.

"As you can see, we are way down in almost every category in terms of numbers of discipline referrals, suspensions and in-school suspensions so far this year," she said in an e-mail.

Across Delaware, 2,495 fighting and disorderly conduct offenses were reported involving 3,368 students. Last school year, there were 48 incidents of fighting/disorderly conduct at Newark High, according to state figures. There were 78 students involved in those fights. More than 1,500 students are enrolled.

Fights are almost always handled by school staff, not police. Only 30 students were reported for school crimes at Newark High last year, and most of those were for either bringing weapons or drugs to school.

"If we didn't have the police presence because of the bomb threat, the officer wouldn't have been there to see the students fighting," Farrall said. "Usually, the fights in school are handled by the staff."

Rep. Paul Baumbach, D-Newark, has been talking with parents, students and staff at the school all week. He said the things parents are seeing online are "putting them on edge."

"The initial reports that are coming out, especially with what happened Monday, turned out to be overstated" Baumbach said. "That was unfortunate, to say the least."

Baumbach said teachers and students work hard to maintain a thriving, safe school community, and it is a shame when a few bad incidents put their reputation at risk.

"I think it's hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube," he said. "But I have to say, I was very pleased to hear students saying 'these headlines are not our school.'"

Even as social media stirred anxiety, students and teachers jumped online to spread some positive news.

On Twitter, school supporters, mostly students, tweeted about the school's band, star athletes, colleges attended after graduation and AP courses, using #NHSPride. "My favorite thing about Newark is that a lot of the teachers that I have encountered actually care about the students that care," one student tweeted.

Newark Police arrested a 15 year old male Newark High School student late Friday for making the bomb threat. He was booked on one count of terroristic threatening causing a building evacuation, arraigned and released to his parents on $5,000 unsecured bail.

Contact Matthew Albright at (302) 324-2428 or malbright@delawareonline.com. Contact Terri Sanginiti at (302) 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com