A Florida teacher hosted 30-second fights between 6th graders in her classroom, police say

• A teacher in Florida was arrested after hosting at least three fights for sixth graders in her class.
• Angel Footman, 23, faces charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, police said.

Police arrested a middle school teacher in Florida after she let sixth graders carry out pre-planned fights in her classroom during school hours, according to the local sheriff's office.

Angel Footman, 23, failed to intervene in any of the brawls and even laid out fighting ground rules for the students ahead of their clashes, according to a probable cause affidavit filed with the Leon County Sheriff's Office.

At one point before a fight, Footman told the students: "30 seconds, no screaming, no yelling, no phones," per the affidavit, seen by Insider.

The document cites the statements of four female sixth-graders from the Griffin Middle School, who took part in the fights and later spoke with a detective. The sixth-graders had their names redacted in the document.

Videos of at least three fights — filmed in late March by students in the classroom — were also reviewed, per the affidavit.

In the videos, Footman watched the students fight and would make comments like "no screaming, no nothing" and "stop pulling hair," the affidavit said. She only told the kids to "break it up" after they fought for a short while, the document added.

Footman also asked two of the girls if they wanted to "run it back" and fight for one more round during one of her planning periods, according to the affidavit.

Two of the girls weren't on Footman's class roster — and were pulled out of other classes to participate in the fights, the affidavit read. When speaking to the detective, the girls said the fights were pre-planned and did not occur randomly, the document added.

Footman confirmed with investigators on March 28 that the fights happened in her classroom but denied organizing them or calling girls out of their classrooms to join the brawl.

She said that the fights happened too quickly for her to intervene and admitted that she had poor classroom management skills, per the affidavit.

When asked why she didn't phone for help, Footman said her desk phone wasn't working, but later corrected herself and said it was, according to the affidavit.

Footman surrendered to the Leon County Sheriff's Office on Friday. She now faces multiple charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to a press release from the Leon County Sheriff's Office.

A representative for the Leon County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.