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OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - Oakland Schools Police are investigating another on-campus altercation at Fremont High School, located at 4610 Foothill Blvd., between a student, security officer, and administrator. The incident was caught on surveillance video and happened the afternoon of January 8th.
"Yeah, there's some shoving and pushing and you can see that on the video," acknowledged Oakland Schools Police Chief Jeff Godown. "Anytime you have a physical confrontation with a student it's not going to look good and I'd prefer not to have that." Godown says the most recent surveillance video confrontation is different from others, where security officers lost their jobs or were prosecuted.
Without going into detail, Godown says the staff has had contact with the student in the past, and they were "concerned about his condition". The confrontation happened when they student tried to leave the office. "School staff are allowed to discipline the kids in the school such as they would their own kids. It's in the board of education," Chief Godown asserted. "Now, there's a gray area as to how would you discipline kids as you would your own kids. There's huge gray area here."
Adults who picked up students outside Fremont High Thursday afternoon had differing opinions about what discipline is appropriate. "I don't think that's right at all," said Ebony Turner, whose daughter is a freshman. "You shouldn't put your hands on nobody else's child. it's not right."
A grandfather waiting outside the school disagreed. "I'm not saying he (the school security officer) was justified," said Mitchell Vincent Sr. "Considering the circumstances, I wouldn't hold the staff or security accountable. It's not their fault."
Students told KTVU there's been an increased security officer and school police presence because of recent fights after school. "They do their job but they overreact," Noah Price said. "It's not necessary."
Chief Godown said he'll look at whether school security officers, administrators and teachers need more training on how to handle confrontational situations. "In some instances we do have that," Godown said. "And you have to look beyond that so see what we can do better to try to keep that from happening."