Arlington substitute teacher fired after video shows students fighting in school

Police are investigating an incident at an Arlington middle school involving two students fighting as a teacher watches.

A video posted on Youtube captioned “Coaches host fight club for students” shows students at Nichols Junior High School fighting while other students cheered them on. An adult is also seen standing by the fight without interfering.

"It kind of concerns me being that I have a teen student and he goes to that school,” said parent Angelica Ventura. “That’s like saying like is my child safe there?"

Other parents also said they found the video to be disturbing.

The district says the teacher in the video is a substitute and, despite the caption, was not a ‘fight club.’

"We have taken appropriate disciplinary measures against everyone who was involved,” said Leslie Johnson with Arlington ISD.

The Arlington Police Department is also investigating the incident.

“As a parent, when you see it you're wondering OK why did no one stop them,” said Arlington Police Lt. Chris Cook. “Why didn't anyone just say stop, notify security notify police. As you know, we have school resource officers on campuses and so that's kind of the questions we have, as well."

Police say from fall of 2014 to fall of 2015, there has been an increase in Class C misdemeanor fights reported at Nichols Junior High.

When Arlington Martin football player Carl Wilson was murdered last year in Kennedale after showing up for a fight, AISD and police put together a program called Coach 5-0 to teach kids alternatives to fighting.  District officials say that and other programs like it seem to be working.

“That's something that we're really seeing a difference in our student behavior,” said Johnston. “And specifically at Nichols, we've tightened some procedures about how students get in and out of the gym."

School district officials say its policy for teachers intervening in a fight is somewhat subjective with the teacher or coach's action depending on the situation.

Arlington Police are questioning the substitute to get his side of the story.

A source tells FOX 4 the substitute teacher was fired.