A lunchroom beating and a woman's threat to stab a 12-year-old Madison middle school student have focused the city's attention on school safety for the second time in less than a week.
Cherokee Middle School, 4301 Cherokee Dr., witnessed the first of the two incidents Tuesday, when a 12-year-old student reported being threatened as she left the building.
According to police, a blond woman in her 30s approached the female student with an ""edged weapon"" at 11 a.m. The girl said the woman then threatened to stab her as the two stood on school grounds.
Police have made no arrests in the case and nobody was hurt during the standoff, which the 12-year-old did not report until the following day.
However, an 18-year-old student at Memorial High School, 201 S. Gammon Rd., was injured Wednesday after skipping in the school's lunch line.
Memorial principal Bruce Dahman said two 16-year-old boys beat the skipping senior unconscious by punching him and then kicking him in the head as he lay on the ground.
Dahman said the incident was ""highly unusual"" but that school staff were nonetheless prepared to protect the student.
""Within the period of time before he even got to the ground we had six staff members there,"" Dahman said.
The 18-year-old victim was taken to a nearby hospital following the fight, and police have announced they plan to charge the two 16-year-olds with felony substantial battery ""based on the seriousness of the offense.""
A weekend fight between two East High School students led to a day-long lockdown Monday after reports of a gun threat. But Principal Dahman said he does not anticipate problems stemming from Wednesday's Memorial High fight.
""Each school is always concerned about school safety,"" he said. ""But this was not an incident that was reflective of what happened there.""
Madison school district spokesperson Ken Syke said the city has been surprised by the week's violence. However, Syke insisted the East High lockdown and the Memorial High beating were unrelated and have little to do with district security.
""Those two incidents were completely unconnected,"" Syke said. ""Maybe you have peaks and valleys in violence, but other than the lockdown there hasn't been anything too unusual.""
