High School Teacher Accused Of Refereeing 'Fight Club'

CLOVERDALE, CA — .Cloverdale Unified School District Superintendent Jeremy Decker said Tuesday afternoon that a special education teacher suspected of allowing and refereeing a "fight club" in his classroom has been with the school district eight years, and the alleged fights occurred during a few class periods on Monday and Tuesday of last week.

Decker said school officials learned about the alleged fights through an employee and rumors from students.

"We jumped in right away and called law enforcement," Decker said.

The teacher, Federico Vargas, 41, of Santa Rosa, was arrested Saturday and booked in the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of 13 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and five counts of endangering children, Cloverdale police said.

Vargas posted bail and was released, a jail spokesman said.

School officials notified police Thursday of an alleged "fight club" for students at the school, Sgt. Chris Parker said.

There were multiple fights and student injuries and one injury required medical treatment, Parker said. One of the fights was recorded on a student's cell phone, Parker said.

Decker said Vargas' class size was 12 or 13 male and female students. There are 400-450 students at Cloverdale High School, Decker said.

"As a superintendent, I also think about this as a parent. This rocks me to my core. Student safety is our most important concern," Decker said.

By Bay City News Service