At Tarkanian Middle School in Las Vegas, a real-life ‘fight club’ results in student suspensions and parental angst

Reporting from Las Vegas —  There are variances on the exact details, but plenty of agreement on what allegedly happened: Multiple students were involved in betting on, recording and sharing on social media a series of staged fights in a bathroom at Tarkanian Middle School this year.

It was referred to as “fight club” — recalling the 1999 film of the same name starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. It appeared to adhere to the main rule established in the movie: Don’t talk about fight club.

But now it’s what many are talking about in this developing community of new brown-and-beige stucco homes about 10 miles southwest of the Las Vegas Strip.

Television news trucks were parked across the street Tuesday afternoon awaiting the students’ release from classes. Some parents waiting to pick up their children sat in cars as reporters went to the windows one by one to ask about the fight club.

Juan Hernandez was talking about it.

“We were sitting around the dinner table last night and my wife pulled it up on her phone and said, ‘Did you see this?’” Hernandez said. “I couldn’t believe it. Wow.”

The 36-year-old said his sixth-grade daughter didn’t know anything about the fight club until she saw it on a KTNV-13 Action News segment Monday.

As he waited in his car with the sunshade stretched across the front windshield, his wife called on the phone. They talked about the fight club some more. He said he hoped the school and the district would come up with some solutions because his younger daughter would be attending Tarkanian in two years.

“They need to get this under control,” he said. “I’d never even thought about this happening before.”

The school of about 1,700 students in grades 6 through 8 with about 70 teachers is part of the Clark County School District. Public School Review ranks it above-average compared with other Nevada schools, and it received a score of 9 out of 10 on GreatSchools.org.

It’s a balanced ethnic mix of Asian, Latino and white students and is in a neighborhood of recently built homes with lots of new ones under construction. The school is named for Lois and Jerry Tarkanian — the latter famously known as “Tark the Shark,” who coached the University of Nevada, Las Vegas men’s basketball team to the 1990 national championship.

Clark County School District Police Capt. Ken Young said the department began investigating Monday after district officials were tipped to the fight ring.

He said the scope of the investigation is wide.

“Everything is in play,” Young said. “Rumors, videos, witness information. Everything.”

Young did not rule out referring some of the findings to the district attorney for criminal prosecution.

School district officials referred all questions to Young, and Tarkanian Middle School referred all inquiries to the school district.

Students interviewed Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times offered varying estimates of how long the fight club was in existence. Some said it had been going on for a week, others said several weeks. As for wagering on the fights, several students said the bets were usually about $5 to $10. Most said the preferred method for sharing the fight videos on social media was either on Instagram or Snapchat.

A few students who said they witnessed the fights said one of the fight rules was no hits to the face. Only body blows — to conceal bruises — were allowed.

David Sheehan, spokesman for Clark County School District, said the school was handling suspensions — which could be as high as about two dozen. The district has policies against fighting and bullying, and some suspensions were reported to be for as long as 10 days.

One student said Principal Eric Johnson addressed the issue over the public address system Tuesday, and several students said he expressed disappointment over the fighting. One said he questioned the maturity level of the students involved — predominantly seventh-graders.

Hernandez said he hoped the school would address the parents directly and talk about the fight club.

“I want to know how this happened and why it won’t happen again,” he said.

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Twitter: @davemontero

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