A Baltimore County high school is being described as an unsafe environment by one of its own teachers after a series of violent fights broke out on campus in recent weeks. Fox45 Project Baltimore spoke with Steven Kronberg, a social studies teacher at Loch Raven High School who was injured trying to break up one of the brawls.

“There are students who walk around school, and they don’t feel comfortable, they don’t feel safe,” Kronberg told Project Baltimore. “I would say scared. Are there teachers that are scared? Absolutely.”

Kronberg, who has taught for 24 years with 12 of those at Loch Raven High, said he never expected to find himself in such a volatile situation as an educator. Yet he says major fights are now an every-few-days occurrence at the school.

“Something has to be done,” he stated. “It’s incredibly disruptive.”

On April 9th, Kronberg ran to assist when a massive fight broke out in a neighboring classroom. With upwards of eight students violently brawling, he tried unsuccessfully to separate them before being knocked to the floor himself.

“I remember being on the floor looking up and the fight was still going on,” he recalled. “I was helpless.”

The April 9th melee lasted 16 seconds with students remaining on top of the fallen Kronberg as the chaos continued. It was the third major brawl at the school that week alone based on videos obtained by Project Baltimore.

One of the other fights spilled into the main office, with the assistant principal seen slamming into the front desk. Another video showed two female students violently attacking each other in the hallway.

Kronberg believes the core group of students involved in these disruptions need to be removed from the general school population, whether through virtual learning or homeschooling.

“The students who come to school to get an education, they’re the biggest victims here,” he said. “The students that are taking away that right from them, there has to be another placement where they can get their right to an education but without disrupting everybody else.”

Official state data shows suspensions and expulsions at Loch Raven High have skyrocketed in recent years from just 39 in 2014 to 231 last year. Academic proficiency is also disturbingly low, with 95% or more of students failing to score proficient on last year’s state math exams.

In the aftermath of the latest incidents, the school principal issued a statement saying “Fighting in school will not be tolerated” and that “swift disciplinary action” would be taken against those involved, including referrals to law enforcement.

But Kronberg, who says he plans to take time off after his injury, expressed doubt about whether the school’s current approach will be enough, telling Project Baltimore “if he has a choice he never wants to go back there.”