JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duval County School Board is implementing enhanced security measures at local high school football games following two incidents that happened in the last two months.
One week after a fight broke out at a Fletcher High School high school football against Sandalwood High School, students are still scared.
“It was pretty scary because we didn’t really know what was happening,” a student who wanted to remain anonymous told News4JAX.
The student, who is also in the band, said she would not be attending tonight’s game as a concern for her safety.
Last Friday, Neptune Beach police said a large fight broke out and people thought they heard a gunshot. According to police, there weren’t any shots fired but there was an arrest resisting an officer.
“I was scared. I was definitely scared. I was mainly scared for my kids because both my kids were away from me at the time,” the student’s mother said.
DCPS emailed families of students at Fletcher High School to provide an update on the fight and explain safety procedures at games.
One email said, in part, two cars affiliated with the people in the fights got pulled over and an AR-15-style rifle was found.
The school district also stressed that students and spectators cannot hang out at the fence or in common areas. Entry into the stadium will not be allowed after half-time, and all attendees will be screened by detectors looking for guns or other weapons.
The Fletcher High School incident isn’t the only situation to happen this year.
In August, there was a shooting outside of First Coast High School. A 15-year-old was accused of opening fire into a crowd of people leaving the game, prompting police to shoot the teen.
In 2018, there was a shooting death at the Raines High School football game. Following that shooting, DCPS rescheduled some football games for safety reasons.
Some games were moved to early start times while others were moved to Saturday morning start times. There were also some games played without fans attending.
The sophomore’s mom said she’s not sure if the district needs to revisit that idea for this school year.
“I don’t know about changing the game times because that might be hard for working parents to go,” she said. “I would love for that you happen but I don’t think that’s realistic.”
The district sent the following response when News4JAX asked if a time change is possible for football games this year.
“While we can’t speculate or answer hypothetical questions, safety is always our highest goal, and we will continue to monitor our games and determine whether modifications to our security plans need to be made.”
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