Xerxes Wilson

The News Journal

About 200 Newark Charter School students took part in a protest Friday morning following an incident between a student and teacher.

School director Greg Meece said officials can't name the teacher and are limited in what they can say about the incident because it is a personnel issue still under investigation.

He said the incident was in a classroom earlier this week and involved a female high school student and teacher in a physical altercation over a cell phone. He added the cell phone did not belong to the student. Meece said neither was at school Friday, but no formal disciplinary action has been taken at this time.

"I can't let the students or parents know all the information available to me because it is a personnel and a student matter," Meece said.

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He said the gathering Friday morning was a "sit-in," with some students "showing solidarity" for the teacher and others for the student.

The students, which were primarily high-school students, gathered for about an hour in the school cafeteria before school began. The sit-in was not organized by the school and ended with an address from the junior-senior school's principal.

"The principal of our building spoke to the students and thanked them for their voices and being heard," Meece said.

In an email to parents this morning, Meece asked for patience while the incident is fully investigated.

"We are still gathering information," Meece said.

About 2,000 students attend the school, which teaches classes for kindergarten through 12th grade.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.