Principal at Nashville's Largest Middle School Pushes for a Year Without Fights

ANTIOCH, TN — Middle school is tough. Hundreds of adolescents jammed together with the first buds of responsibility sprouting, all during the already-difficult early teen years. And at a school like Antioch's Thurgood Marshall Middle Prep — Metro's largest middle school with more than 900 students and one of its most diverse populations — things can be a little tougher.

Defying the odds, there have been no fights on school property through the first half of the school year, according to Executive Principal Roderick Webb, and the students are being rewarded.

“Parents definitely want to know their kids are going to be safe,” Webb told News 2. “We have kids from several countries throughout the world. Everybody has very diverse backgrounds but we have to learn to come together. We are Marshall at Thurgood Marshall.”

After going the entire fall semester living up to their principal's expectations, the students at Marshall are exempted from Metro Schools' uniform policy for the remainder of the school year; if they go another month without a fight, they can use their cell phones at lunch, the principal told WKRN.

“Our goal is safety,” he said. “Safety is key. If kids don’t feel safe, they’re not going to learn and perform at their best.”

Image via MNPS