Student Fight Club Discovered at Lunsford Middle School

BY ALEXIS GUSTIN agustin@loudounnow.com

A mid-May fight among students and posts on social media led school administrators at J. Michael Lunsford Middle School in Chantilly to discover a fight club created by students being held both on and off campus.

Division spokesperson Dan Adams said in an email that Principal Carrie Simms sent a message to parents via her weekly newsletter in response to a fight at school and the social media activity.

Adams said he couldn’t comment more because the matter involves student discipline.

Simms said in the message to parents that some of the student-created clubs are elaborate with “brackets, betting and challenges,” and said many parents are aware of their child’s participation, and said some parents were even hosting the fights in their garages or basements.

Some students had tried to have fights on school grounds, according to

Simms in the letter.

“We cannot tell you how to parent, but when your children create TikToks and Instagram pages using Lunsford’s name, and then attempt to hold these fights in our hallways and bathrooms, we will take action,” she said.

Simms said the fights lead to a “reset” on the morning of May 19 that meant students were not given 20 minutes of free time to walk around the school and socialize with friends. Instead, they were told to report directly to their advisory class.

“Unfortunately, some students created a very unsafe situation for all and we needed to be able to start our education for the day in a calm manner,” Simms said. “Violent behavior, fighting and its promotion on social media have no place in our school community.”

Sheriff ’s Office spokesperson Michele Bowman said in an email that the department “continues to investigate the matter,” and said, “at this time no charges have been obtained.” n