Fight at Liberty Tech raises new concerns

JACKSON, Tenn.– School officials are now looking into how a woman got inside Liberty Technology Magnet High School on Tuesday, before allegedly inciting a fight between students.

“We don’t have disruptions on a daily basis like this. It’s just that someone took it upon themselves to conduct an action that should not be tolerated,” Jackson-Madison County Schools interim superintendent Ray Washington said.

Washington says the school system is re-evaluating entry procedures at all schools.

“With this incident, it makes us rethink on who we’re securing them from,” Washington said.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office confirmed around 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday, a woman entered the school without signing in and went upstairs.

School resource officers discovered multiple people were fighting, including the woman, who was later identified as Latoya Boyd.

No one suspected anything when Boyd buzzed in for access to the front office, especially since her daughter, a student at the school, was with her.

Washington explains that Boyd was let into the front office area with permission from the school, but after that, she went further into the school without permission.

Currently, school visitors must use a buzzer to get permission to go in the front office. At some schools, there is a second buzzer to get into the hallway and classroom areas.

“At every school door entrance into the office, there is a buzzer to let you into the office area,” Washington said. “What we did not have at Liberty was a buzzer to let someone into the school area.”

So far, he says that three schools have the second buzzer, and a fourth will get one soon.

“We’re actually working on this, school by school,” Washington said.

Washington said the fight allegedly started after Boyd and her daughter identified a student they had a problem with.