Albemarle County’s Journey Middle School (JMS) was the scene of a chaotic melee today.
Late this afternoon, JMS principal, Ashby Johnson, sent the following (understated) alert to Journey families:
Dear Journey Middle School Families,
We want to make you aware of a situation that occurred earlier this afternoon. School administration had to address a behavioral issue involving a small group of students in one of our hallways. Out of an abundance of caution and to help resolve the issue quickly and safely, so that it didn’t escalate into a physical altercation, we made an announcement to temporarily clear the hallway and asked all students to remain in or return to their classrooms.
The situation was managed promptly and the students involved will be appropriately disciplined in accordance with our school policies.
As always, we remain committed to maintaining a safe and positive learning environment, and we wanted to keep you informed of this incident and our response.
Thank you for your continued support.
Respectfully,
Ashby Johnson
Principal, Journey Middle School
An on-site witness reports (unconfirmed) that a faculty member was injured in the fracas and was sent for emergency medical evaluation.
This is a breaking story about Albemarle County Public Schools. Details will be added as/if they become available.
UPDATE 5/7/2025 5:08 PM: Albemarle County Public Schools seeks to clarify:
We are working on a shared and consistent language around safety and security at the school division. If ACPS were to use the term “lockdown” in an official communication, it would be in alignment with the iloveuguys.org Standard Response Protocol, and would mean that there was an immediate active threat in the building. It would also mean that lights would be turned off, classroom doors locked, people inside classrooms hiding. That was not the case yesterday since the fight was successfully prevented by the quick actions of the staff in the building.
