A Florida middle school teacher faces criminal charges after she allegedly organized real-life fight clubs inside her classroom, according to police.
Angel Drew Footman, a former employee at the Griffin Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with four counts of contributing to child delinquency, according to court records obtained by The Miami Herald.
The court documents state a school resource officer heard about the brawls the 23-year-old orchestrated in her sixth grade classroom during school hours.
School administrators also reviewed several videos of students swinging at each other between March 22 and March 23, WCTV reported. Police spoke to several sixth grade girls and their participation in the contests.
The students said they were part of the alleged fight club during school hours and received invitations for additional fights, court documents state. They also told detectives that Footman initiated four rules before the brawls: “30 seconds, no screaming, no yelling, no phones.”
Police confirmed Footman’s involvement in the illegal activity after she said in one of the videos, “No screaming, no nothing,” and “Stop pulling hair.” Court documents also mentioned Footman never reported the fights to school officials.
When police questioned Footman about the alleged fights, she denied the claims. However, the 23-year-old admitted she did not take immediate action to stop the brawls and report them to school administrators, according to court documents.
Footman’s scheduled arraignment is on May 4. If convicted, she faces up to a year for each charge.