After a successful school year so far with multiple athletic and academic achievements taking place, North Atlanta High School unexpectedly made big news two weeks ago, for something not so good. On Jan. 22, a video circulated around social media featuring a mother of a student getting involved in a fight between two unnamed female students in one of the bathrooms on campus. Since then, our school has been put in an unfortunate negative light, after multiple news stations reported on the incident.

On the day of the fight, the mother of a North Atlanta student bypassed school security and entered the campus illegally. The mother was then filmed allegedly attacking a 14-year-old female student in a bathroom, seconds before staff members and a school resource officer intervened and successfully broke up the fight. The victim was the daughter of reality star Sierra Gates, according to Channel 2 Action News. “I was heartbroken. I’ve been crying all day,” said Gates to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “To see that her safety is not assured at school is very scary to me.” 

The parent has since been charged with counts of battery, disrupting public school and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. More advancements in the criminal charges will be made once the Atlanta Public Schools police department has concluded their investigation into the altercation. 

Such a tragic occurrence is very uncommon for North Atlanta, and teachers, parents, and students alike have been vocal with their concerns about how administrators will crack down on bettering the school’s security measures in the future. “I think the actions of a small group of people poorly reflects how great our school can be,” said sophomore Olivia Schramkowski. “It’s not a good representation of the many good students who succeed with the help of North Atlanta.”

The administration is working hard to improve security for the building and coming up with ways to better protect students and staff. “The safety and security of our students and staff is our top priority” said a statement from principal Curtis Douglass published to North Atlanta’s website. “As such, we are reviewing this incident to see if there are any areas where our current security measures may be improved or enhanced.”

The North Atlanta community is hopeful that appropriate consequences come out of the situation and that security measures can be improved upon to make sure an incident like this never occurs again.