Two students arrested, three staff members injured after Wellington High School fights

WELLINGTON, Fla. — At least two students have been arrested and more are expected to be charged following a series of fights Friday afternoon at Wellington High School that resulted in minor injuries to at least three staff members, according to an email that Principal Mario Crocetti sent to parents.

A Friday afternoon fight that grew from two students to six had to be broken up with pepper spray, Crocetti said in the letter sent Friday evening to parents. Because of that fight, four additional Palm Beach County School Police officers were stationed at key areas around the school for dismissal, along with more than two dozen staff members.

The additional staffing at dismissal allowed staff and police to stop one incident from turning into a fight and to break up another fight "in less than five seconds," Crocetti wrote.

The cause of the fights is unknown.

Two students involved will be charged with battery on a school board employee, Crocetti said. He wrote that "School Police has arrested or will be bringing charges against many of the students involved."

The school is suspending 10 of the students involved in the fights, he wrote, and will be recommending expulsion for two of them. Three other students are being investigated for their possible involvement in the fights.

"I want to recognize the vast majority of our students who left the area when these events occurred, thereby allowing my staff and our School Police Officers to do their jobs as quickly, safely, and efficiently as possible," Crocetti wrote. "I know these outstanding students are as appalled and disappointed by these events as I am."