A 23-year-old teacher at a Florida middle school was arrested last Wednesday following reports that she allegedly launched her very own”fight club” of “friendly fades” among students in her classroom.
Angel Footman was charged with four counts of child delinquency after students notified school resource officers of what occurred and encouraged them in her presence.
The sixth-grade teacher at Griffin Middle School hosted these brawls regularly, with rules similar to a real-life fight club, urging participants and onlookers not to take videos or yell for fear of being found out.
However, videos leaked of the alleged fights, with Footman visibly seated at her desk yelling out parameters for the student melees from her desk, such as a rule “no screaming, no nothing” and limiting the matches to 30 seconds, as stated by NBC News.
The footage consisted of several fights between students. Parents discovered the harrowing extracurricular activity and wrought havoc on the Tallahassee school. The tween fight club unraveled last month, with swift action toward Footman in early April.
Court records obtained by The New York Post stated that the Griffin Middle School children settled their disagreements by engaging in “friendly fades,” according to the 23-year-old teacher’s guidelines. Footman reportedly served as brawl coordinator and referee. The 2020 University of Florida graduate also allegedly encouraged rematches. The records detailed the instructor asked two girls caught fighting in the video if they wanted to “run it back.”
According to authorities, the disgraced educator claimed she did not initiate or set up the physical disputes. Still, she did fail to follow school protocol by not reporting the melees to administrators or attempting to break them up.
The Tallahassee native was released from jail, pending an arraignment set for May 4.
