OMEN
03-20-2009, 01:21 PM
A FORMER school principal is under siege after sending troubled students into a steel cage to battle it out Fight Club-style with bare fists and no head protection.
Internal records show the "cage fights" took place between 2003 and 2005 at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, Texas.
The reports describe sanctioned violence in which school staff and even principal Donald Moten relied on the cage to settle disputes and control wild students.
Investigators said Mr Moten "knew of the practice, allowed it to go on for a time and failed to report it", The Dallas Morning News reports.
Former school counsellor Frank Hammond said: "It was gladiator-style entertainment for the staff. They were taking these boys downstairs to fight. And it was sanctioned by the principal and security."
Yet Mr Moten insists no cage fights took place while he was principal.
"That's barbaric. You can't do that at a high school. You can't do that anywhere," he said.
District investigators reportedly learned of the fights as part of an investigation into grade-changing for student athletes that ultimately cost the school its 2006 boys state basketball championship.
Investigator Michael Hinojosa confirmed that there were "some things that happened inside of a cage" but criminal charges were not filed.
NewsAU
Internal records show the "cage fights" took place between 2003 and 2005 at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, Texas.
The reports describe sanctioned violence in which school staff and even principal Donald Moten relied on the cage to settle disputes and control wild students.
Investigators said Mr Moten "knew of the practice, allowed it to go on for a time and failed to report it", The Dallas Morning News reports.
Former school counsellor Frank Hammond said: "It was gladiator-style entertainment for the staff. They were taking these boys downstairs to fight. And it was sanctioned by the principal and security."
Yet Mr Moten insists no cage fights took place while he was principal.
"That's barbaric. You can't do that at a high school. You can't do that anywhere," he said.
District investigators reportedly learned of the fights as part of an investigation into grade-changing for student athletes that ultimately cost the school its 2006 boys state basketball championship.
Investigator Michael Hinojosa confirmed that there were "some things that happened inside of a cage" but criminal charges were not filed.
NewsAU