Flung food at Alcovy High School last week led to a brief altercation in which no one was injured, school and Sheriff's officials said.

That incident, on Jan. 31, was the first of three separate food fights last week, leading the high school to hold the lunch period in classrooms, as opposed to allowing the students going to the cafeteria.

"Alcovy had a series of minor food fights Tuesday (Jan. 31), Wednesday and Friday," said Lt. Keith Crum, a spokesman for the Newton County Sheriff's Office. "The school handled the discipline."

Crum said on Jan. 31, a student threw some food on the floor at lunchtime, and another student stepped in it, slipped and fell. The student who fell got mad and hit the student who threw the food.

"During the course of that, an administrator got some applesauce on him," he said. "There were no visible injuries."

Rumors spread that the fight on Jan. 31 was a gang initiation and that an assistant principal received a broken nose; however, school and sheriff's officials said the investigation determined that it was not gang related and no one was injured.

"Wherever the information comes from, it was blown out of proportion," Crum said.

Sherri Davis-Viniard, a spokeswoman for Newton County Schools, echoed Crum's assertion that the fight was not gang related. Davis-Viniard did not say what discipline was given to the students.

Dr. LaQuanda Carpenter, principal of Alcovy High School, said that while there had been a general "concern of gang activity" last year, "we do not have any suspicions of gang activity as of today.

"As far as anti-gang actions we deal with each situation as it occurs," she said in an email. "We have not had any school-wide anti-gang movements. However, students are fully aware of the consequences of exhibiting gang behavior on school campus."