School staff member injured in student fight in Boston one day after principal attacked at a different school

Two students got into a fight at a Boston school on Thursday, during which a staff member hit his head on a locker trying to hold one of them back and a knife fell from one of the student’s pockets, according to police.

This latest incident came just a day after a student knocked her principal unconscious at a different Boston school, leaving her with multiple injuries, including a concussion, a possible rib fracture, and swelling to her face and back of the head.

In Thursday’s incident, which happened at the John W. McCormack School, a middle school in Dorchester, police were called following a report of an assault and battery and a person with a knife around 1:40 p.m., according to the police report obtained by Boston.com. 

When officers arrived, they learned that two students had been fighting around 10:15 a.m. and that they were restrained by school staff. While holding one of the students back, a staffer hit his head on a locker and cut his ear, the report says.

During the time of subduing the students, a black and orange folding knife “with the blade extended and in the locked position” fell from the pocket of one of the students, according to the report.

The injured staff member drove himself to the hospital and then went home, the report says. 

School staff said there wasn’t a history of violence between the two fighting students, according to police. School security specialists took possession of the knife.

No charges were filed, according to The Boston Globe.

In the prior incident, which happened at the Dr. William W. Henderson Inclusion School, Principal Patricia Lampron’s children released a statement Wednesday night, noting that their mother is “passionate” about the school and the community.

“Our primary concern is her health and safety,” the statement says. “She will need time and support to recover from her injuries.”

They also called for a full investigation to ensure the safety of the rest of the school community.

“She wants everyone to know that there is NO place for violence in our schools,” the statement says.

After Wednesday’s incident, Boston Mayor-elect Michelle Wu maintained that she doesn’t want police in city schools, according to the Boston Herald.

“All throughout the system we need — particularly in this moment coming out of the pandemic when there’s been such stress, anxiety, trauma on our families — to be putting more resources into social and emotional supports, into the wraparound services that our schools should be providing,” she said on Thursday, according to the newspaper.