Several Fights Cause Middletown, New York School to Close

Numerous fights caught on video at Middletown High School on Thursday led to the school being forced to close on Friday.

It was a violent day at the Middletown High School on Thursday as several fights between students broke out in various areas of the school leading to a heavy police response and the school being placed on a hold in place around noontime according to News 12.

Fights at Middletown High School

The high school, located at 30 Gardner Ext Ave, Middletown, NY was the scene of chaos on Thursday as videos show several fights breaking out across the school where students can be seen brawling with one another in hallways and inside the school's cafeteria. The violence was first reported to parents at around 12.45 p.m. as the schools sent them a letter stating the school was being placed in a hold in place while police responded to the scene.

Fights Caught on Cell Phone Video

Ironically, the fights at the school were all caught on a student's cell phone, even though the high school is one of the schools in the Hudson Valley that requires students to keep their phones locked in a cellphone pouch called a Yondr.

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The cell phone restrictions have been met with mixed reactions from parents as some believe that cell phones encourage fights like this, while others say that when situations like this happen it would be good to be able to contact their children on their phones.

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Middletown, NY High School Superintendent Responds to Violence

The school district's Superintendent of Schools Amy Creeden posted an update for parents online yesterday afternoon saying that the school would be closed on Friday, November 17th due to Thursday's violence.

"In an abundance of caution Middletown High School will be closed on Friday, November 17, 2023. All K-8 campuses will be open. There will be no after-school or evening activities on Friday, November 17, 2023, for grades 9-12. The high school closure is being implemented out of an abundance of caution and to enable our teams to unpack what took place at Middletown High School today."

The superintendent's message went on to say,

"Rest assured, our teams are committed to fully investigating this matter and holding any individual who was involved in the physical altercation accountable. Today’s incident did not include any weapons of any kind. There was no stabbing that took place on campus. No individual left the high school campus by ambulance. Today’s incident was a physical altercation between high school young people."

You can read the superintendent's entire message online here. As more information becomes available we will update this article.