Chaperones of a middle school dance Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at the Salvation Army called 911 concerned that a child in attendance might have had a weapon, but authorities found no weapons at the scene.

Nick Yanotty, founder of the dance’s host, Breakthrough Butler, said two students got into a fight at the dance that led another child to believe one of them had a weapon in his backpack. In response, chaperones checked his bag and alerted city police.

“We searched his bag, we found nothing but clothes and a school pencil,” Yanotty said. “The adult chaperones, we were observing the entire ground, the bathrooms and everything to make sure there was no follow up.”

Despite there being no weapons at the dance, which was meant for Butler Area School District students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade, Yanotty said the dance was still cut short because other issues of “teen drama” were escalating between students.

“It got to the point where one fight had been planned ahead of time by one of the kids,” Yanotty said. “The cops decided to shut it down when it was going on.”

Yannotty said the situation was particularly frustrating because he recently hosted a middle school dance through Breakthrough Butler that went well. He said the goal of the organization is to give children a safe space and an outlet for growth, but it has been difficult to make a positive impact on the attendees because outside influences such as TikTok and Snapchat incite anger among some children.

“Back in December, we did a sixth through eighth grade dance as well, we had a lot of kids who had a good time,” Yanotty said. “I'm just trying with Breakthrough make it through to these kids to help them learn the skills to become better, and also learn that it's okay to be different and strive for something.”