On January 8, 2021 a fight between two middle school female students was videoed in the cafeteria on campus during school hours. School administrators intervened and the students involved were administratively reprimanded. The Levy County Sheriff’s Office did not receive any calls from the parents of the children involved requesting a criminal investigation and charges to be filed.
Most recently the video, as posted in multiple social media platforms, has been viewed over 2 million times. As a result of the content of the video the Levy County School Board and the Chiefland Middle/High School has received numerous nonspecific threats by phone and email. All of these threats have been deemed not credible by an independent investigation conducted by the LCSO Criminal Investigations Division.
Extra security on each campus has been ordered by Sheriff McCallum to ensure the safety of each student.
This message from Levy County School Board Superintendent Christopher Cowart was issued earlier today:
“We are disappointed by an incident which occurred two months ago at one of our campuses, which has recently received attention on social media platforms, this doesn't accurately reflect the values of the School Board of Levy County. The district has thoroughly investigated and followed through with its policies to address the matter with all those involved. The School Board of Levy County takes any form of fighting, discrimination, intimidation, harassment, and bullying seriously, and they are not tolerated on any School District campus. The District has policies that it rigorously follows to enforce those values. Student privacy laws prevent the district from commenting on the specifics of any particular case, but if a student or parent has a concern about a situation, they should contact their campus principal or the district. Our District's goals are to continually improve and we have grown from this isolated incident at one of our "A" rated schools.”
This message is to dispel rumors that imminent threats of violence are to occur at this campus and school has been canceled.