Videos show Ribault High administrator being attacked during pep rally

Duval County school district investigating altercation

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Videos show a school administrator at Ribault Senior High School being attacked Friday during a pep rally.

The several videos are being circulated on social media. In one video, students can be seen damaging a car in the parking lot.

It's homecoming week at Ribault High School in Northwest Jacksonville, and several students told News4Jax that the pep rally was supposed to happen Thursday, but got canceled and moved to Friday.

That's when the fights broke. Many parents said they're upset over what happened.

Fanisha Horace said her son, who's in eighth grade at Ribault Middle School, saw the chaos on his walk home Friday afternoon.

"He came home and said, 'I don't want to go to the high school,'" Horace said. "I asked what happened and he said that there was a riot out there and they were fighting."

She said her son won't be attending the high school next year after she later saw one of the videos on social media showing students attacking the school administrator during Friday's pep rally.

"It's just ridiculous that they can't even walk home from school without worrying like something like that happened," Horace said.

In the video, it appears the administrator is trying to break up a fight in the stands, but in the process, he gets pushed down. The video shows him getting back up, but then getting tackled by students -- forcing him to fall backward onto his back.

"It's pretty disturbing and disgusting they would do that to someone who is an educator, who is trying to help you achieve something," Horace said. 

News4Jax was also sent a video of students rioting in the school's parking lot. That video is also making the rounds on social media. Students told News4Jax that the students seen in the video were damaging the principal's car. 

Horace, who graduated from Ribault Senior High School, said when she was in school, students would never hurt an administrator.

"It's upsetting because it wasn't like that," Horace said. "We didn't touch our elders. We didn't fight adults or anything like that. We knew hands off, respect your elders."

She said she hopes the students in the videos are disciplined, and she can find a safer high school for her son to attend next year.

"I hope that everybody learns something from this and become better people from it," Horace said. "Hopefully, they can move on from it and I hope the administrator wasn't too badly hurt."

It's unclear whether the school administrator is OK after the incident. 

Duval County Public Schools said the altercation during Friday's pep rally is under investigation and could result in student disciplinary action. 


About the Author:

Corley Peel is a Texas native and Texas Tech graduate who covered big stories in Joplin, Missouri, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Jacksonville, Florida before returning to the Lone Star State. When not reporting, Corley enjoys hot yoga, Tech Football, and finding the best tacos in town.