By LEONARD GRAY

RESERVE – Two recent fights at Leon Godchaux Junior High School resulted in 12 students arrested, and all recommended for expulsion.

One student, Brandon Joseph McGee, 17, of 228 E. 13th St., Reserve, was charged as an adult with disturbing the peace by fighting and seven counts of contributing to the delinquency of juveniles in relation to one of the fights.

The other students were each charged with disturbing the peace by fighting.

Capt. Michael Tregre, of the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office, said the first incident involved four students on Sept. 16, two from Reserve and two from Garyville. The Reserve pair included a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy. The Garyville pair, both boys, were ages 15 and 16.

Deputies were called to the school at 12:35 p.m. to take charge of the situation, and the four were taken to the parish jail to await their parents. No one was injured and no weapons were involved.

The second fight, on the following day, was likewise split equally between Garyville and Reserve students and also included boys and girls, Tregre said.

This incident apparently started when two girls began a tussle during breakfast in the cafeteria, and included a 14-year-old from Garyville and a 16-year-old from Reserve. Then a group of six boys began fighting as well, which included McGee and boys ages 15 and 16, all from Reserve, as well as a trio of boys from Garyville, one age 14 and two 15-year-olds.

Ann LaBorde, spokeswoman for St. John Parish Public Schools, said the students were all recommended for expulsion and will face a hearing officer within 10 days of the recommendation, who will decide whether to uphold the recommendation.

In addition, LaBorde said, they will likely be placed at the Redirection Center, located at the old Garyville Elementary School, to better learn to behave in school.

“That’s their last chance,” LaBorde said, and added once they attend the center for up to a year, they could be allowed back in regular classes.

At the same time, within 30 days of the arrests, the students must attend a conflict resolution program, along with a parent, and the courts will track whether the child and parent attend that program.

Failure in either program would result in complete expulsion from the school system, she said.

It is all part of the St. John Parish public school system’s program aimed at eliminating violence in the schools and separating problem students from the majority of the population.