Police vehicles are pictured outside Jamestown High School on Nov. 7. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

Paul Abbott didn’t mince words about the misinformation that spread moments after a fight broke out among students at Jamestown High School earlier this month.

Abbott, Jamestown School Board president, said he was disappointed that “people without facts” of the Nov. 7 fracas inside the school’s cafeteria helped fuel many of the inaccurate rumors.

“Certainly those things were disproved,” Abbott said during Monday’s school board meeting at Love Elementary School. “It got me pretty upset as it was happening.”

Police from several agencies were summoned to the East Second Street high school for reports of a large fight. More than a dozen patrol cars could be seen lined up in front of the building, with several officers posted to the front entrance.

In a statement, the school district said no one was injured in the morning altercation and reported that the students involved were removed from the school by Jamestown police. Further, JPS stressed that no weapons were involved.

Later that day, and in a rare move, the district put out another statement that included comments from Abbott and Dr. Kevin Whitaker, district superintendent, to quell misinformation about the fight.

Monday’s school board meeting was the first since the incident.

Without specifying, Abbott took to task the rumors instigated by some, including the news media, that quickly spread on social media.

“When something does happen that is seriously blown out of proportion … we are restricted, and by we I mean our administration and us as a board, about the things that we can say about matters involving students, matters involving personnel,” he said. “I think we have a professional and ethical obligation to proceed cautiously and be careful what we say.”

Patrick Slagle, school board vice president, said the misinformation that often is posted to social media “paints a bad picture of our school and school system.” He said it also impacts the students.

“It’s unfortunate, because we have so many wonderful things that are going on in our district,” said Slagle, later adding, “We have amazing teachers and staff. Our (school resource officers), our red shirts, this board, our superintendent — care about students (and) care about education.”

In the event of a major incident, Abbott said the district would be limited in what it could say immediately due to a possible criminal investigation and the rights of victims.

However, due to the spread of inaccurate information, he said, district staff and board members are, “taking shots from people who don’t have facts.”

“We are a very open-book district,” he continued. “We are not in the habit of keeping secrets. The good stories, the bad stories — we’re going to put out facts, not conjecture. We’re not going to fuel rumors, so I would ask everyone to get their facts from reliable sources — not people on Facebook, not less-reliable media sources — because it is irresponsible and it creates chaos.”