The West Baton Rouge Parish School Board voted 7-2 on Oct. 21 to uphold the expulsion of a Port Allen High School ninth grader. District staff said the student admitted throwing punches in a group fight in the school's parking lot after a September football game.

His mother appealed the expulsion, which runs through the end of the 2026-27 school year. She asked the board to overturn it or shorten it. The board kept it as issued. Board members Sonceria Moore Evans and Chareeka Grace voted no.

WBR Independent is not naming the student or his family because he is a minor.

What happened

The trouble started at the end of the Sept. 4 Sugar Cane Classic at Brusly High School, according to district staff. Two groups of people connected to Port Allen got into a shouting match. Port Allen High Principal JaKouri Williams said he and the sheriff's office separated the groups and sent them on their way.

Staff said there was another exchange of words at the Raising Cane's near Walmart in Port Allen, on the way back from Brusly. Nothing physical happened there.

Both groups then ended up in the Port Allen High parking lot around 10:30 p.m., while students were being picked up after the game. Williams walked the board through the school's security video. It showed two pickup trucks pulling in and people gathering in the lot. Two people started fighting, and others rushed in.

Williams estimated 12 to 15 people were involved, including former students and relatives of students. An off-duty officer who was in the lot helped break it up. No one was seriously hurt.

Williams said he called the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office when he got word of the fight. Deputies did respond, according to Sgt. Landon Groger, the sheriff's office spokesman. He said school administrators handled the incident internally, and no report was generated.

The district identified four or five of its own students and recommended expulsion for them. Taya Loupe, the district's supervisor of child welfare and attendance, presented the district's case. She told the board this student admitted at his hearing that he threw punches.

The policy

The district's 2026-27 student handbook lists "group fighting," a fight involving three or more students, among the offenses for which the principal "shall recommend expulsion." District officials call group fights, weapons and drugs the "big three."

An ordinary fight is handled differently. For a high school student, a first fight carries 30 days in alternative placement and a no-fighting contract.

The policy requires the expulsion recommendation. It does not set how long the expulsion lasts. That is decided at the superintendent's hearing.

"We have no other option but to recommend expulsion according to the policy," Superintendent Dr. Chandler Smith told the board.

Under state law, an expelled student stays under the school system's supervision through an alternative education program. District staff said this student is serving his expulsion in the district's alternative program, which is on campus. Students there work through online courses at their own pace, with video tutorials and a virtual help feature. A teacher monitors the room. Staff said the district can't staff a teacher for every subject with about 12 students in the program, so the courses are online.

The mother's appeal

The mother told the board another student threatened her son with a gun at the Brusly game, and that her son walked away from trouble more than once that night. She said she had already put her sons in their vehicle in the Port Allen High lot before the fight started. They got out, she said, because she and her 8-year-old daughter were still in the crowd.

"I am not asking you to ignore school rules or excuse inappropriate behavior," she said. "I am asking you to consider the complete picture."

She said her son has ADHD and qualifies for a Section 504 plan, which gives students with disabilities classroom accommodations such as extra time on tests. She said she started that process earlier in October. District officials said help is available to any student who needs it, and the 504 evaluation can go forward while he is in the alternative program.

She also disputed an 11-day suspension given to another of her sons over the same incident.

The '30 days'

The mother told the board that before the hearing, the principal told the family "the most my son will receive is 30 days in the back." No district official addressed that during the meeting.

In an interview with WBR Independent, she said Williams told her that at a meeting with her and her sons a few days after the fight, where he showed them the security video.

"He was like, the most they would give 'em is 30 days," she said. "They're not gonna expel him for the whole school year."

She said she doesn't remember him calling it a group fight at that meeting. Looking back, she said, she thinks he may not have known how the group fight policy would apply. The expulsion recommendation came by mail about a week later, she said, and no shorter consequence was offered at the hearing.

Smith declined to comment. The appeal was held in open session at the parent's request, he wrote, but "it remains the policy of the School Board to not publicly comment on student disciplinary issues." Williams did not respond to two requests for comment from WBR Independent.

The principal's account

At the meeting, Williams said he personally helped the mother and her children get to their vehicle at Brusly that night.

"Not one time was a gun mentioned at any point in time," he said. He said the first time staff heard about a gun was at the student's expulsion hearing Sept. 18.

The mother tells it differently. In the interview, she said she didn't know about the gun threat at Brusly or during the fight. She learned about it from her sons after they got home that night, she said. She said she brought it up with Williams and officers on the Port Allen High campus after the fight, and again at her meeting with Williams a few days later.

Williams told the board about 10 coaches and several sponsors were on campus that night. They were near the gym, where most students get picked up. The fight broke out near the soccer field.

"Hindsight 20/20, yes, we have made adjustments," he said.

The board's discussion

Board member Teri Bergeron asked why no adults were near the lot after two run-ins earlier that night.

"We have to get some better practices for this," board member Chareeka Grace said.

Evans said police should have escorted the Port Allen High team back to campus and stayed in the parking lot until everyone had left.

Smith said the district has since added security and a school resource officer at games, including away games. He called it "ridiculous that we even have to do that."

Evans moved to shorten the expulsion, and Grace seconded. Under her motion, the student would stay in the alternative program through the end of 2026 and return to class in January if there were no more problems.

That would have ended his removal at the end of the fall semester on Dec. 18. That's less than a full semester, which is the shortest an expulsion can be under state law and district policy. The board's attorney said they would have to work out what to call it if the motion passed.

Board member Burke Fiscus then made a substitute motion to keep the expulsion as issued, seconded by Ronald "Blue" LeBlanc. Under Robert's Rules, the substitute goes first. It passed 7-2, so Evans' motion never came to a vote.

Voting to uphold the expulsion were Fiscus, LeBlanc, Hayley Clouatre, G. Alden Chustz Jr., Michael Maranto, Bergeron and board President Matthew Daigrepont. Board member Atley Walker was absent.

Under state law, the family has 10 school days to take the board's decision to district court. A judge can overturn it only if the board's decision was not supported by any relevant evidence.

Editor's note: The school board heard this appeal in open session at the family's choice, and the meeting was livestreamed. WBR Independent is not naming the student or his family because he is a minor. For the same reason, this story leaves out the names of other students mentioned at the hearing, details of the student's records, and images from the school security video shown to the board. WBR Independent's video of the meeting will be edited to remove the hearing. The board's vote will be included.

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