Flint council committee rejects a school-fighting ordinance 5-1, but its sponsor says it could come back

FLINT, Mich. — A proposal to make fighting at Flint schools a civil infraction, with community service for first offenders and a fine for repeat violators, has stalled again at City Hall.

The City Council’s legislative committee voted 5-1 on Monday, Oct. 12, to reject the ordinance, MLive reported. Its sponsor, 2nd Ward Councilwoman Ladel Lewis, cast the only vote in favor, according to MLive and ABC12. The committee had tabled the measure at its Sept. 23 meeting.

The ordinance would have banned fighting on school property, on school buses, at bus stops and at school-sponsored events in the city, ABC12 reported. A first violation would have meant 20 hours of community service and a second, 40 hours. Any violation after that would have carried a $250 fine.

A judge also could have ordered peer mediation or a behavior program, with students or their parents paying the cost, according to ABC12. The proposal defined fighting broadly: punching, grabbing, shoving or other unwanted physical contact between students, plus threats of it.

ABC12 reported that the measure was introduced after fights at Southwestern Academy last winter, when failing heating equipment forced an early dismissal and students were left waiting for buses. Two students were arrested.

“We had a lot of violent incidents among the youth in our city, and it’s a few things that we have control of as council people,” Lewis said before the vote, according to MLive. “This isn’t the solution, but this is a solution.”

Lewis has said she modeled the proposal on Grand Blanc, which adopted its own school-fighting ordinance in March 2025. That city fines students $200 for a fight, up to $500 for repeat offenders, and treats the offense as a civil infraction that stays off criminal records, MLive reported at the time. Grand Blanc’s police chief, Brian Lipe, said then that officers had counted more than 80 fights on school property in the 2023-24 school year.

One council member who voted no suggested the committee take another look at Flint’s curfew ordinance as a way to address youth violence, MLive reported. After the vote, Lewis asked parents who support the idea to contact her and said she might bring it back.

Sources:
MLive, “Flint council committee rejects school fighting ordinance,” Oct. 13, 2026, https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2026/10/flint-council-committee-rejects-school-fighting-ordinance.html
ABC12 (WJRT), “Flint council rejects ordinance targeting fights on school property,” Oct. 12, 2026, https://www.abc12.com/news/local/flint-council-rejects-ordinance-targeting-fights-on-school-property/article_4dc1f776-c740-4158-8192-22fd9d6a1e24.html
Flint Beat, “Flint City Council to consider $1.25 million in food assistance, school fighting ordinance,” Oct. 2026, https://www.flintbeat.com/government/flint-city-council-to-consider-125-million-in-food-assistance-school-fighting-ordinance-caf507b7
MLive, “Grand Blanc tackles school fights with fines up to $500,” March 2025, https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2025/03/grand-blanc-tackles-school-fights-with-fines-up-to-500.html
Photo: Alberryii, “City of Flint Municipal Center.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:City_of_Flint_Municipal_Center.jpg

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