Nineteen students were arrested at Chicago Vocational Career Academy on Friday after a pulled fire alarm allowed a fight that started inside the school to escalate into "a melee" outside the building, authorities said.
The school at 2100 E. 87th St. is not the only Chicago public high school to be troubled this year by fights that happen after a fire alarm is pulled, some teachers cautioned.
In fact, Chicago Vocational was already receiving stepped-up security because of fights and phony fire alarms, said Andres Durbak, the head of security for Chicago Public Schools.
The incident followed a Tuesday morning shooting across the street from Schurz High School that left three students at that school injured. Authorities said the Schurz violence may have been sparked when members of a gang were spotted spraying graffiti on a nearby building.
Friday's incident followed a fight a day earlier, at an unknown "off-site" location, between Chicago Vocational seniors and sophomores, said CPS spokeswoman Celeste Garrett.
On Friday, "the trash talk resumed. Soon a fight broke out in the school, on the second floor," Garrett said. During that scuffle, someone was pepper-sprayed and later treated at a hospital. Police identified the victim as a Chicago Vocational teacher.
After that fight was quelled, Garrett said, someone pulled the fire alarm, causing the evacuation of the school.
At that point, "kids streamed outside, and the fight that started inside the building multiplied outside the building," Durbak said. Ultimately, police said, 19 students were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct.
"Several stories" were floating around Friday about the cause of the fight, Durbak said. "One was a dispute between senior football players and sophomores in the building," he said.
'Accident waiting to happen'
Durbak had no initial information linking the incident to gangs, although some non-official sources said gangs were involved.
However, rather than one big fight, sporadic fights happened outside the building, said CPS spokesman Peter Cunningham. He said Principal Marie Chambers Miles described the scene as "a melee."
Another source called it "an all-out riot." Chicago Vocational is a big building, with long corridors, dark hallways and sections that are no longer used, said the source, who is familiar with CPS security.
"It's an accident waiting to happen," the source said.
One Chicago Vocational student, who asked not to be named, said fights followed five fire-alarm pulls just last month at the school.
"I want to transfer," the student said. "It's an interruption to education. And most of the fights are just over gangs."
However, Cunningham said Miles said there have only been two or three fights after fake fire alarms in the two years she has been principal at Chicago Vocational.
A teacher from another South Side high school said post-fire- alarm fights are a nagging problem at his school, at CVS and at least one other South Side school.
"Students pull fire alarms to get people outside so they can fight them," said the teacher, who asked not to be named. "What I fear is that if this doesn't stop now, it's going to escalate more. What does it take? A teacher getting harmed?"
