Students hit with huge suspensions after fight at school

A massive fight outside a Tennessee high school earned large suspensions for several students.

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The families of some of those students at Whitehaven High School in Memphis are frustrated by the decision.

Jessica Winston said her daughter, Nyla Winston, 14, was jumped by a mob Tuesday outside the school.

“I don't feel like my kid is safe, not with Shelby County Schools. Not with Whitehaven,” Jessica Winston said.

Her daughter said it started inside the school when word got to her that some students wanted to fight her.

“She started rumors at school saying that her and her friend were going to jump me,” Nyla Winston said.

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After school outside -- still on campus -- a verbal altercation started when Nyla and her friends said a school employee told them to leave school property.

They did and walked down the road where the mob followed them, and the brawl began.

Winston said she didn’t start the fight.

Winston had part of her hair ripped out in the fight. She said that after the off-campus incident, she and her friends -- who were just trying to defend themselves -- were suspended for 168 days.

Parents were furious.

“I really don’t want my kids to go back to school, I’m considering homeschooling them and pulling them away from all of this,” Jessica Winston said.

Cox Media Group