The cause?

They are teenagers.

Teenagers that feel the need to settle things with violence.

Thankfully the authorities intervened and hopefully it will come to an end.

Rivalry? Not quite what I think of as far as high school rivalries. This is more violence, I'd put cash on is caused by gang issues.

Mervo is a powder keg waiting to blow. On any given day there are hundreds of students in the hallways when they should either be at lunch or in class. These students gamble, fight, do and sell drugs, harass teachers and other students, threaten teachers and other students, etc. It is absolute insanity. Meanwhile, this all takes place while our principal does absolutely nothing. We have had several visits from Dr. Alonso's underlings and they have done absolutely nothing. All this does is create a mindset that differences can be settled through violence.

Also, I think people should know the end result with Dr. Alonso's solution to the lead in water fountains problem. We got the Deer Park water fountains at Mervo and now they are kept locked in teacher's lounges and offices. Why do you ask? Because students were pouring out the water all over the floor, kicking over the machines, throwing the empty water bottles at each other, and throwing the cups at each other. Now if a student wants a drink of water, they have to get a teacher or an administrator to escort them to one of the aforementioned locations and supervise them while they drink. So the end result is that kids drink soda and punch because there is absolutely no way that they can go through the process of getting a drink of water without being late to class.

Ignorance...?

"'NO HOME TRAINING!!" Mervo's reputation has changed over the years. I did a presentation at the Eager Street Academy (Jail School) and the kids were AWESOME!! They were very respectful and listened to me speak about preparing for their future. It's ironic that those in prison acted better than those at Mervo. I guess Mervo's the new jail school. Dr. Scoefield has worked a MIRACLE with these kids. Somebody needs to talk to him about what he's done to turn the jail school around. Maybe he can be of some help. We need tough-love people to be principals in our schools. Some of these folks are just waiting out for retirement.

once the weather heats up so does the violence between city and mervo. it is normally mervo kids being hard heads and city kids pretending like they are. it should be noted that the kids from city were freshman, not sure about the ones from mervo. they are at that time in their life when they think they have to prove something to find their place in the world. i just wish they would realize that place is the classroom not the street. and not sure how accurate the rumor was going around school last week but it was my understanding that the mervo kids did a good amount of damage on a city kid before they were apprehended.

To Mervo teacher: It's easy enough to fill a jug with water from the Deer Park bottles each morning to keep in my classroom. Then I don't have to feel like a jerk for denying water to my students, and water breaks are not so disruptive.

No ideas on the school-to-school violence.

Teenagers like violence? Gangs? No water? Ignorance? No "home training?"....The truth is, NONE of the posters here know the real reason these kids were fighting, and any attempt to answer this question almost necessarily has to devolve into wild speculation at best and a display of prejudicial stereotypes at worst. It's irresponsible to throw a question like "what caused this fight?" out there, and I'm a little disappointed that it was asked.

EXACTLY, Simon.

Let me clarify my comment.

I did not mean to imply that teenagers "like" violence. But rather that teens are emotional beings and are prone to knee-jerk reactions to situations.

Anyone working with teens will tell you that is the case.

They are kids, kids get in fights. I got in a couple fights in my life just like many kids have.

We should all be fortunate that this did not escalate into something worse and that the authorities took appropriate action.

James from Hampden:

This is not your typical schoolyard fight because someone took you're lunch money. This is full out, brutal street fighting. Authorities can take appropriate action but that doesn't mean the kids will. Anyone that knows anything about Baltimore City teenagers will tell you that the fights they get in are nothing like the ones we got in as kids.

@Anonymous - I guess it all depends on when and where you were a kid. Race riots at at least one junior high schools (it was called Northern Parkway Junior High then and it was a new school) in the early 70's were pretty vicious things that included real weapons. There was a period when lots of the schools were half-day so you could fit twice as many kids in a school. Way too much free time for tons of kids led to all sorts of violence as I recall. High school kids getting mugged at a bus stop because they were on somebody elses turf with one ending up in a hospital for weeks happened during the same period. I'm not saying that the situation is the same as it was then, but lets not kid ourselves that the past is the "golden age" and we've been going downhill since forever.

Kids out of control, gang fights...
reminds me of the mid-70's. Mervo in 2009 sounds like Northwestern, Northern, Lake Clifton in the '70s. My brother went to an out-of control Clifton Park Junior High in 1974 before he was transferred to Robert Poole JH where there were regular race riots. Luckily, things settled down by the time I arrived at Robert Poole in '76, only one race riot in my 2 years there.
The point is that the only thing that surprises me about this blog is that City students were involved (I'm assuming they were provoked by the Mervo students). As a Poly alum, I used to have a great respect for City kids. I guess thats gone now.

this is crazy no one really knows whats goin on everyone just has an opinion and needs to just shut up

I am just glad that as things were heating up the principal (head of school) of City decided to hightail it to South Korea.
A great example for all leaders to follow.

Hey y'all...the Mervo/City "Beef" is due to the fact that Teenagers today have a greater set of issues they are dealing with and they do not know how to control their anger.

When I was a Mervo student, which I am STILL proud to call myself a Mervo MAN, Our "beef" was with Lake Clifton...thats because those kids came up there to fight the Mervo and City kids...so we were all cool then...they need to get it together...

City can boast about their Alumni database, but where the hell are they? If we don't continue to teach our children and take responsibility and accountability, senseless violence like this will continue to thrive!

MERVO c/oO5
University of Maryland, College Park, c/o2009