'Oak Creek Fights' Facebook Page Taken Down Amid Concerns

OAK CREEK WI -- Students of Oak Creek High School have been filming fights between students and posting them on the Facebook page Oak Creek Fights for the past 18 months. Filmed on and off school property, the videos show students punching, body slamming and kicking each other. On Wednesday, Facebook took down the page.

On Tuesday, Tim Culver, Superintendent of the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District, released a statement on the incidents and their depiction on Facebook. He said that students had posted a "handful" of fight videos on the Facebook page. You can read the full statement here. At one point, he was sure to note that this is a minority of students who are fighting, and that the majority are "amazing, polite young people."

FOX6 interviews reveal that locals were concerned with the Facebook page and the fights shown on it. "It's very disturbing to see that that's what's going on in the community," said one woman, who was off camera during the interview.

Though, others who are concerned see the shedding of light on this topic beneficial. "I think it's good to expose the truth of what's going on in our own communities... so we can express our concerns," said another interviewee.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Culver released another statement. This time, he focused on assessing the situation. He noted the good questions raised by his initial statement and gave a detailed answer to one overarching question: "How is the district putting the anti-bullying and safety policies into place?"

Despite a program called the Knight's Advisory, which OCHS students attend daily for "character education including anti-bullying," according to the statement, they still fought each other.

Culver noted the challenges faced by schools near the end of the statement, saying: "Once again, I am not saying this is enough or that no problems arise when we bring almost 7,000 students together. I just wanted you to know what the school improvement work underway is so you can ask great, specific questions of your school's principal and help support this effort."

At the request of the school district, Facebook took down the page on Wednesday, despite having said it did not violate any Facebook page policies. Facebook initially declined the district's request, but eventually gave in.

Several students who were involved in the fights have been suspended or expelled.

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