SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – A new rule is in place for students at one San Jose middle school. They can no longer gather in groups of four people or more. The school says this is a temporary measure. 

At Muwekma Ohlone Middle School in San Jose, school leaders say they are trying to do a reset after responding to a few incidents of behavioral disruptions. One parent tells KRON4 there was a fight among students.

“They had a few days where they felt students were not collectively meeting the expectation, so they hit pause and are doing a reset and trying to get things back into their normal operations,” said Jennifer Maddox, Director of Communications for the San Jose Unified School District. 

Maddox explained the new temporary rule the principal put in place. Students can no longer gather in groups of more than four people in-between classes or while walking on campus, except for when they eat lunch.

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“There’s obviously a confined space, so the chances that somebody from one group is gonna bump into somebody from another group is pretty high. And depending on the groups of students that may be enough to initiate a conflict between students,” Maddox said. 

The temporary policy went into place when Thursday. Maddox says district leaders hope it will ease tension amongst students on campus.

“We want students when they are moving through the school to flow in the right direction, and not cluster in these groups where issues can occur,” she said.