A stoush between two teenagers over a girl has rekindled concerns about fighting among students from Whangarei high schools.
The clash that started between two students from other secondary schools attracted a crowd of 50 onlookers as students spilled out of Whangarei Girls' and Boys' High schools on Wednesday afternoon.
"It's shocking
and disappointing and does no good to anyone," Whangarei Boys' High headmaster Al Kirk said about the incident, which had brought several police cars rushing to the scene.
One student from the school would be reprimanded for joining in the fight after it started, Mr Kirk said.
The incident was frustrating and damaging to schools' reputations, particularly in light of the hard work all the schools had been doing to improve student behaviour and ethics.
Tikipunga High School principal Peter Garelja said his school would investigate the incident on Monday. The students were away this week while teachers had training on the new curriculum.
Fighting between schools was not a regular occurrence.
"We'd never be complacent about that kind of behaviour. The consequences are unfortunate in that everyone's reputation suffers because of the actions of a few."
Meanwhile, the police have played down the incident as two boys getting hot-headed over a girl.
Initial reports indicated a major brawl had started near the schools' bus bay and spread into nearby streets. But only about six students had joined in when the two teenagers began fighting, Whangarei police sergeant John Fagan said. A youth who was not a Boys' High student was spoken to after the fight, but no arrests were made.
In May, police and school officials dispersed groups of Whangarei secondary schoolboys to prevent brawling between students from rival city schools. In two separate incidents that month, police dispersed about 20 students fighting in Jeeves Park and about 45 youths who assembled outside the Mobil service station in Tikipunga.
