Eight girls involved in a fight at Brainerd High School on Tuesday face charges of disorderly conduct.

County School officials said six of the eight girls were suspended.

The melee brought a response from three police agencies.

Students who are suspended generally are assigned to an alternative school.

Meanwhile, the local NAACP criticized the handling of the incident and called for "restorative justice."

The NAACP statement says:

"The Chattanooga-Hamilton County NAACP shares in concerns currently being raised in the community over the recent incident which occurred at Brainerd High School on March 24th, 2015, and any such activities across the landscape of the county which may lead to a disruption of normal school activities and effect the learning outcome and achievement of any student.

"As the stewards of our communities, it is our hope that our students, parents, schools and the community at-large do all that we can to foster the best learning environments possible. Nevertheless, there were many startling revelations that were conveyed to the public in regards to this incident.

"First, as the suspensions in County Schools decreased from roughly 3,900 to 3,700 in the 2013-14 calendar, the rate at Brainerd High School more than doubled from 175 to 325.

"Secondly, according to the information last received by our Branch, the students involved in this incident have been charged with criminal disorderly conduct, which may result in this event becoming permanently affixed on their criminal history records and as a result may permanently endanger their future upward mobility, educational attainment and employment prospects for the unforeseeable future.

"This incident highlights one overwhelming fact, 'restorative justice' is absent in our schools. The Chattanooga-Hamilton County NAACP calls for programs in our schools that adhere to the “Balanced and Restorative” (BAJR) model as devised by the Department of Justice that not only helps students to atone, places an emphasis on accountability, and increases interpersonal skills and social efficacy through enhanced competency development, but provides alternatives to punitive penalties such as conflict resolution and critical thinking development while also making the community as a whole active-stakeholders in increasing school safety and healthier learning environments.

"The State of Illinois, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, has developed an approach for implementing restorative justice in our schools that will be equally beneficial to our students and the community to adopt..

"The Chattanooga-Hamilton County NAACP likewise calls for a complete dismantling of the school to prison pipeline in Hamilton County Schools because of the disparity levels and disproportionate rates experienced by African American and minority students in terms of suspensions, expulsions,reassignment to alternative schools, and other disciplinary infractions which are funneling our students out of the schoolhouse and into the jailhouse, and is likewise condemning them to lifetimes of mediocrity. In the final estimation, our students and community will have no justice until our policies cease being ambivalent to the Resorative Justice that we need now.