FORT WALTON BEACH — Four Okaloosa County teachers were injured during a disturbance at a local Department of Juvenile Justice facility, according to an Okaloosa County School District official.
A male teacher and a female teacher were taken to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center and the other two declined to go to the hospital after the incident at Gulf Coast Youth Academy, according to Kaye McKinley, the deputy superintendent of Okaloosa County Schools.
The male teacher suffered an eye injury and underwent surgery Monday afternoon, she said.
He was released later in the day.
The female teacher was also treated and released Monday for an arm injury, McKinley said.
Okaloosa County Schools have a standing contract with DJJ to provide educational services for youth housed at the facility.
The teachers were injured after “multiple fights” broke out at the residential facility for young men between the ages of 14 and 18, according to Meghan Speakes Collins, the communications director for DJJ. She said eight youths were involved.
Staff members were still looking into the incident, but the fights occurred around 7:50 a.m. Monday and the male teacher was injured while trying to break up one of them, she said.
“This does not appear to be a battery on staff kind of thing,” Speakes Collins said.
She said he had returned to work by 4:30 p.m. She was later able to confirm that another teacher had a sprained thumb.
Staff at the center are all trained about how to deescalate potentially volatile situations, but fights still happen, she added.
The Gulf Coast Youth Academy, which is also known as Gulf Coast Treatment Center, houses low- to- moderate risk youth and provides a variety of counseling services in addition to educational ones.
“We try to really emphasize that DJJ is not like jail for kids,” Speakes Collins said. “We’re all about rehabilitation.”
Check back for more details.
