SAN DIEGO – It’s hard to learn when you’re afraid you’re going to be attacked … especially with a butcher knife.

ABC 10 reports:

A school touted just weeks ago by the San Diego Unified School District is now described by some as an atmosphere of fear and fights.

10News has learned in the past two weeks, two separate incidents at Lincoln High School have led to arrests on campus, and one may have involved a butcher knife.

“They’re actually happening every day,” said Jessica, a sophomore who did not want her identity revealed, referring to fights. 

She says the fights mostly occur during lunch and after school, often between African-American and Hispanic students. It has gotten so bad, she says her friends do not like to walk the halls.

MORE NEWS: From Classroom to Consulate Chef: Culinary Student Lands Dream Job at U.S. Embassy in Paris

“They’re scared that whenever they walk down the hall, they’re going to get jumped by several people,” the student says.

According to the news station, a fight led to the arrest of one student, and another student was taken by ambulance for a bloody nose. The school district says the fight was over a skateboard.

Last week, a student was attacked by another in a bathroom. That attack allegedly included a butcher knife.

“My contacts tell me the bathroom attack … involved a butcher knife. The student was able to defend himself but received slashes on his hands and arms,” says Frank Engle, a citizen journalist who has been chronicling the fights on his blog, District Deeds.

Engle says many of the problems began when the district removed a “no-nonsense” principal.

“She had organizational structures in place that created order. When you have a highly qualified principal removed with no collaboration with the community, this is what you get,” Engle says, according to ABC 10.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

“I feel bad because whenever I go to school, there’s just fights going on instead of people going to class,” Jessica tells the news station.