Underdale High students suspended over school brawl video
Yet another shocking school fight has seen 18 western suburbs students suspended amid claims dummy phones are being used to avoid bans.
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A large group of students who filmed a fight inside a school’s sports shed to broadcast it on social media have been suspended.
Around two dozen Underdale High students stood cheering on as two boys fought in what one student later claimed was an organised bout on Thursday.
During the video, shared within the school and on social media platform Tik Tok, one older boy can be heard announcing “round two” as the fight continued.
Channel 9 reported on Friday that dummy phones were being used by students at the western suburbs school to circumvent a ban introduced in public schools at the beginning of the school year.
One student told Channel 9 there allegedly was a roster at Underdale High School on when students would fight each other.
Education Minister Blair Boyer said on Saturday the footage showed “exactly why” a mobile ban in public high schools “is so important”.
“It will not come as a surprise to any South Australians that a small number of students are trying to find a way around the ban,” he said.
“As I said from day one, the policy has serious consequences for those who breach it; including suspension from school as has been the case at Underdale High.
“I expect schools to take strong action which they’ve done here, come down on them like a tonne of bricks which they’ve done here and suspended those with the phones as well.”
Mr Boyer said he made “no apologies for the zero-tolerance approach we are taking”.
“This footage, driven by an international TikTok trend, is organised with the express intention of providing footage for those involved to upload to TikTok,” he said.
“And for that reason, the school has suspended not only those perpetrating the violence, but also the bystanders filming and cheering it on.”
Mr Boyer said the feedback received by the Education Department about the phone ban had been “overwhelmingly positive”.
“There have been very high levels of compliance and consistent feedback about improved classroom environments, more socialisation between students during recess and lunch and higher levels of exercise and play,” he said.
Mr Boyer said he had spoken to Underdale High School principal about its implementation of the phone ban,
“I am pleased to hear that the mobile phone ban has been overwhelmingly complied with,” he said.
Mr Boyer said the school had sent a letter to families about the incident and the “strong response” it had taken.
The Underdale High School fight follows similar incidents at Golden Grove High School and Whyalla Secondary College being shared to social media.
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