62 Fights Reported At Nashville Magnet School

NASHVILLE, TN — John Early Magnet Middle Prep in North Nashville is one of the four pathway schools for Metro students to earn admission to the highly-regarded Hume-Fogg or Martin Luther King high schools. Despite the emphasis on academic achievement, there's nevertheless been 62 fights reported at the school in the first quarter of the school year, an average of more than one per day. Police have been called to the school 40 times, nearly every day class has been in session, on average, seven of which have been for assault.

One mother told WKRN that her son was punched in the stomach, choked in the bathroom and had his tooth broken when he was beaten up.

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Pippa Meriwether, MNPS's community superintendent with oversight for the northwest quadrant, told WKRN "There has not been a lot of violence at John Early," though she admitted 62 fights is "a lot."

Meriwether told the station that after reviewing disciplinary data from last school year, two new staff members were brought into to help with emotional and social learning and that the school did a "reboot" after fall break to reset expectations for students at the school.

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