Mother of stabbing victim sues principal, teacher

This from the Richmond Register:

The mother of a Madison Central High School student who was stabbed in the chest earlier this year has filed a lawsuit against the school’s principal, a teacher and an aide.

Jaime Caldwell filed the suit Dec. 10 on behalf of her son, Stevie Christopher Caldwell, 17, who was hospitalized at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington following the Oct. 8 incident. Caldwell was stabbed in the chest with a knife in the school’s culinary arts laboratory during an altercation, police and school officials said after the incident. His assailant, also a 17-year-old student at the school, is identified in the suit by the initials J.H. and not by name.

The lawsuit names Central principal Gina Lakes, teacher Patti Etherington and teacher’s aide Rose Mansfield as defendants. All three are being sued as individuals and in their official capacities as school employees.

The suit alleges that the defendants were deficient in their responsibility to enforce school policies regarding students having knives and that they were negligent in upervising the students when the stabbing took place....

Madison stabbing victim in fair condition

This from H-L:

Kaleigh Hammitt's group was working on a vegetable tray in her Madison Central High School culinary skills class early Thursday afternoon when she heard a scuffle 3 feet away.

She said she saw one of her classmates push fellow student Stevie Christopher Caldwell into a corner. The student, a 17-year-old boy, then brandished what looked like a 5- to 6-inch long steak knife, Kaleigh said.

"He was just swinging the knife in every direction trying to get Stevie," said Kaleigh, a 17-year-old senior at the school...

Caldwell, 17, was listed in fair condition Friday at the University of Kentucky
Hospital.The teen who allegedly stabbed Caldwell has been charged with first-degree assault...[and] is being held in the Fayette County Juvenile Detention Center.

Police investigating stabbing at Madison Central HS

This from the Richmond Register:

A 17-year-old male Madison Central High School student is charged with first-degree assault after an apparent stabbing Thursday in a cooking laboratory at the school.

Richmond police locked down the school for most of the afternoon after what
they referred to as an “altercation” which took place around 12:15 p.m. in a
food lab in the family and consumer sciences department, said Sgt. Willard
Reardon, Richmond Police Department spokesman.

The victim, another 17-year-old male, was transported by ambulance directly to the University of Kentucky Medical Center following the assault. The suspect is lodged in the Fayette County Detention Center.

Parents huddled in groups outside the school following the incident, and many expressed frustration at being unable to take their children home because of the lockdown.

Inside the school, some students pasted messages to family members outside in the windows of classrooms, and some students were able to talk to bystanders through locked glass doors.Police had locked down the building to prevent the crime scene or other areas from being contaminated while officers collected evidence, Reardon said during a news conference outside the school.

Tommy Floyd, Madison County Schools superintendent, confirmed in a written statement that was sent home with every student that the victim did suffer a stab wound in the attack....

...A teacher was present in the room at the time of the attack, as were other students, Reardon said. Both the teacher and the school’s resource officer responded to the assault quickly and were able to subdue the attacker, he said.

Floyd credited a number of students for helping to get the victim to medical attention quickly by moving him to another area.

Madison County School Fight Posted On You Tube

This from WKYT TV: VIDEO

A fight breaks out at school, grabbing the attention of everyone around.

That's a typical scenario that you'd find in pretty much any school in America. When the fight is over, everyone goes their separate ways with a story to tell.

But what if the victim and all his classmates, in fact anyone with interest, could relive that experience over and over at just the click of a button.

That's exactly what's happening at Madison Central High School, in Richmond.

Earlier this month at the cafeteria, someone recorded a fight between two students, then put the video on You Tube, adding derogatory comments. It's led some to wonder how this may affect the victim.

This isn't a new phenomenon. With a simple search on the popular video search engine, hundreds of fights can be viewed just like the incident at Madison Central.

It's even prompted some legislation here in Kentucky. A bill passed both the House and Senate that would force schools to have a policy in place to deal with cyber-bullying.

As for the fight itself, the Madison County superintendent says disciplinary action has been taken. But because of student confidentiality, won't specify what exactly was done.

The video was posted on You Tube four days ago. It's since been removed.