The altercation according to students

The altercation that occurred last Wednesday has fabricated a rumor mill in the halls of PVHS. The story has progressed into many different versions and proceeded far from the truth. 

The conflict began on Instagram, a popular social media platform for teens, which led to arguments between two groups of people. This ultimately led to the incident last week.

A student walked into the commons looking to pick a fight with another, words were exchanged, and this led to punches being thrown. 

The event led to chaos in the commons. Sunny Wolfe was returning from her locker and said “there were kids yelling ‘Taze that kid, taze that kid!’” which was a nerve-racking moment for many. 

Without a school resource officer (SRO) present, the staff had to handle the situation by themselves. For student’s safety, the “the study hall teacher told all of the study hall students to go to the cafeteria which we did,” according to Michael Vanderschaaf, a junior. 

Many students feel that administration and faculty did not handle the event well. When the altercation was occurring, the “administration was trying to control the scene but that didn’t really work because the student was still throwing punches at teachers and students,” stated Vanderschaaf. 

Students were confused as to why there was no SRO present. “The situation could’ve been much less chaotic and handled quicker if there would have been a school resource officer there,” stated Wolfe. The school’s full-time SRO, Jamey Fah, was out on a training assignment.

Once the study hall students were moved out of the commons, the student that instigated the conflict made his way into the hallway and went after another student, according to Wolfe. This led to two students taking down the instigator. For the safety of fellow students, “a few of the guys stopped him from hurting anybody,” said TJ Brown, a senior. 

The conflict ended in the hallway when both students were taken to the office and Bettendorf Police arrived at the school. 

PV administration said the conflict was largely due to social media, but students, especially senior Caitlin Simon, do not agree. “All students have issues on social media and it hasn’t progressed this far. He took something on social media and made it dangerous which is not a common thing. He could’ve handled it differently,” she said.

Simon and many students agree that violence is not the option to diffusing these situations.

When altercations like these happen, it is common to hear many different versions of the event. Names are mixed up, timeline is different, and things are made-up. Students should look at the whole story before deepening the rumor mill.