Haven Middle School Fight Sends Staff To Hospital, 2nd Time In 8 Days

EVANSTON, IL — For second time in eight days, a staff member at Haven Middle School in Evanston was taken to the hospital after being injured by fighting students.

Evanston police and fire personnel were called to the school at 2417 Prairie Ave. twice Thursday morning, according to Cmdr. Ryan Glew. At one point, the school went into a soft lockdown, although no weapons were involved in either incident, he said.

A fight in a hallway led to the first call, which came in around 9:15 a.m. Arriving officers learned that a staff member had been knocked to the ground and injured during the fight, although she had not been targeted, Glew said.

Firefighters took the school staffer to the hospital with what were believed to be minor injuries to her head and neck.

The second call came in shortly before noon. Evanston police and fire personnel were attending to a boy with a possible medical issue when another boy began interfering with their efforts. Police took him to the station, and possible juvenile charges are pending further investigation, according to Glew.

No charges will be filed in connection with the first incident, which will be handled internally by Evanston/Skokie School District 65 administrators, he said.

Last week, another staff member was reportedly taken to the hospital after suffering an injury.

Principal Chris Latting said in a message to families that a district employee trying to break up a fight between students “intervened and fell" and needed medical attention.

But the hallway monitor involved in the incident disputed the administrator's account, the Evanston RoundTable reported.

“I did not fall," Jayson Lim told the RoundTable. "The student punched me."

Patch asked Superintendent Devon Horton how many staff members have been injured by students during the 2021-22 school year, and how many of those needed to be taken to the hospital. Any response received will be added here.

District 65 Dean of Culture and Climate Elijah Palmer addressed increasing fights at schools during a school board committee meeting last week.

"I think these behaviors are escalating because schools aren't equipped with minimizing these altercations [that are] happening," Palmer said.

"So it's highlighted because no one feels like 'OK well if students are arguing I don't know how to intervene,' and we had to put [training] on pause due to COVID," he added. "But I think if Anne Marie [Candelario, director of special services,] and I really had the opportunity to really train everybody on CPI [Crisis Prevention Institute training] and having everyone certified, then, a lot of these altercations we've been hearing about, they would have been minimized."