Teachers report being attacked by students in a youth detention center

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – Last week we reported that the Florida State Juvenile Court closed Lake Academy in Tampa after a girl died there late last month.

A DJJ spokesperson sent the I-Team an emailed statement Tuesday saying the department terminated its contract with the company that operated the facility before the investigation into the girl’s death was complete.

Now the I-Team hears from two former teachers who were attacked while working at Lake Academy.

“I’ve thought about it every morning since it happened”

“When you walk onto campus, you never see barbed wire and are not reminded of where we are and how much work we do every day,” said Heather Cleveland.

Cleveland is a Hillsborough County Public Schools employee who was transferred to Lake Academy as a math teacher last December.

WFTS

She said she was promised safety and protection when she accepted the job.

Cleveland was attacked by a student three months after starting his job.

“I think I’ve thought about it every morning since it happened,” Cleveland said.

Lake Academy is a 40-bed residential program where the state sends girls between the ages of 12 and 18 who have been convicted of crimes and determined to be in need of intensive psychiatric treatment.

Cleveland said TrueCore Behavioral Solutions, LLC, the private contractor that operated Lake Academy for the state before the contract was terminated, failed to maintain order.

“The way the classes were conducted definitely did not create an atmosphere conducive to learning,” Cleveland said.

She said that in her role as a teacher, it was not her job to maintain order or discipline students.

“It was just a complete downward spiral”

“As teachers, we are very meticulous. We are there to teach. We are not there to discipline,” Cleveland said. “The staff has a responsibility because they know the girls and have training that is specific to the type of residential setting.”

“It was all downhill the whole time,” said a former substitute teacher who worked at Lake Academy.

She is hiding her identity because she fears reprisal from her employer, Kelly Temporary Services, which hired her as a full-time temporary worker at Lake Academy for nearly a year.

She said she observed employees frequently being on the phone, having students do their hair, and worse.

“There was one employee who had a student massage her under her shirt. It was really gross,” she said.

The teacher also described problematic behavior of some students.

“A student had peed in my trash can and on my desk,” she said. “And the students were just openly cutting each other in class.”

“While you have these girls breaking chairs and throwing furniture and fights breaking out and this or that, we have a whole group of girls sitting in the classroom traumatized,” Cleveland said.

State contract worth $31.5 million canceled

Both teachers said they rarely saw the school administration and often found that the facility was understaffed.

TrueCore Behavioral Solutions, LLC was awarded a five-year, $31.5 million contract in 2022.

This total cost amounts to approximately $157,500 per bed per year, paid by Florida taxpayers.

Hillsborough County taxpayers also pay for police calls to Lake Academy, which occur on average more than five times a month.

Records show that the facility received 195 calls to 9-1-1 in three years.

58 were classified as assault and 63 incidents were redacted, indicating that they were either sexual offenses or child abuse.

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office

Both teachers we interviewed quit their teaching jobs at Lake Academy after being attacked by girls.

“I was walking down the hall. My back was to her. I didn’t see it coming. She jumped me from behind,” Cleveland said.

Cleveland suffered a concussion.

Her attacker was arrested and convicted.

“I had an incident where a student broke into my office and then tried to stab me with my keys,” the substitute teacher said.

But the incident that prompted both women to speak out was the death of a 17-year-old on May 29.

She was a student whom both women had previously taught.

“I was heartbroken,” Cleveland said.

A spokesperson for the Juvenile Justice Department said in an email that the Lake Academy girls have been transferred to other facilities in surrounding counties while the Juvenile Justice Department’s Inspector General and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office investigate.

We contacted True Core Solutions, LLC by phone and email about the teacher’s allegations, the calls to law enforcement, and the girl’s death, but did not receive a response by our deadline.

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