A series of fights broke out Friday at East Chapel Hill High School, resulting in a temporary hold -- students and staff required to stay put in classrooms -- and injuries to five people.
Alex Carrasquillo, communications manager for the Town of Chapel Hill, said police were called to the school twice.
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He said three adults were injured trying to break up a fight just before noon, and two others were hurt doing the same around 2 p.m.
Andy Jenks, spokesman for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said the outbreak of fights was "not indicative of a typical school day at any of our schools."
Just after 2:30 p.m., ECHHS sent a message to parents describing "multiple, unrelated altercations involving students" that led the schools to be on "hold" status.
Just after 3 p.m., the school sent another alert that the "hold" had been lifted and dismissal would take place on time at 4 p.m.
"This was a difficult afternoon at school," Jenks said.
Carasquillo said all of the injured were expected to recover, but he did not offer specifics on their injuries. He did say that the town and police had no reason to believe that weapons were involved in any of the fights.
The school district and law enforcement are still investigating what led to the fights. No student was taken into custody or charged with a crime connected to the fighting.
"Things that happen in the community often manifest themselves in school," Jenks said. "We're trying to get to the bottom of that."
The district and police will work together to figure out how and why the fights starts, how they escalated and how to prevent them in the future, he said.