I am a 70 year old woman who no longer goes to the library in the afternoon and evening due to the unruly kids there. I taught in middle school for 30 years, so I know middle school student behavior. Some of the children consider the library as a gathering place and are loud and playful. They are not respectful of any adult asking them to stay quiet. The first wave of students are middle school from PMS. They are loud, and sometimes argumentative in the library. At times, I have been very nervous with the angry yelling over some disagreement. Eventually the middle school students leave as parents come and pick up their child.

Around 5:00, an older , high school crowd arrives to "study" in table groups. They often can be loud and their playful antics are disturbing. They quickly forget they are in a place of study and loudly engage in conversation.

The librarians ask them to be quiet, but there is no respect for the adult authority.
Not ALL students are problematic, but there are enough unruly students to make it difficult for all.

The school district either needs to send supervision there, or, law enforcement needs to be there to enforce appropriate behavior. The students are not respecting the librarians or any other adult there asking for quiet.

So why were there people standing around, watching and taking videos but not trying to help - Just saying!

Not the school’s responsibility (re comment on library antics) library should suspend access, require a parent meeting after x days, reinstate privileges.

Parents are accountable for their child’s behavior, not the school.

Actually, it has been learned the school does have responsibility until the child gets home. A little-known factoid. I have to agree about suspending library privileges.

They can't share the name of the student who brutally attacked another student, but the name of the parent, and by association the student who reported it to police and shared a video of it. Possibly opening them up to retaliation. Kind of backwards.

The parent of the student who recorded the video contacted the newspaper and shared the video. And she shared her identity. A bold move by a parent hoping to expose potential dangers and get them out in the open so some action can be taken to stop this kind of behavior.

@Parent. Abhorrent is correct. It is also abhorrent for an adult to call a child a cruel animal as you have done. The child didn't get to choose her family. We are a society of laws that govern behaviors toward one another. The police and school officials are the ones civil society tasks with doing that.
I share your angst that one child did this to another child, but labeling the offender a cruel animal certainly won't help her do better. If we are to expect better behavior, we must behave better ourselves. Hurling insults mirrors abusive behavior and won't solve anything. Bear in mind these are minors. Not yet old enough to even be placed in the juvenile justice system. Even animals rescued from the streets are given a chance at rehabilitation. Your words merely serve to inflict more abuse on an already wounded human being, as you acknowledge yourself. Eye for an eye? Two wrongs do not make for a right. Such rhetoric serves only to exacerbate an already abhorrent circumstance.
Two children's lives have been irreparably altered by this incident. As a caring community, we must do what we can to lessen the impact as much as we can and work toward preventing a recurrence ever again. The damage has already been done, and it is incumbent on all of us to ensure it isn't allowed to be repeated.