(February 8, 2008)—Five teenage students at a Rio Grande Valley alternative school were in custody Friday after their teacher was beaten.
The names of the students and teacher weren't released.
Walter Watson's the interim superintendent of the Mercedes public schools.
He says the incident at the Mercedes Discipline Alternative Education Program started with a confrontation between a student and the teacher.
Watson says that's when the other four students joined in.
Watson says the male teacher was taken to a hospital and received stitches for a cut over his eyebrow and received treatment for other minor cuts, scratches and bruises.
The students, ranging in age from 14 to 16, are to be detained at the Hidalgo County Juvenile Detention Center for about two weeks before a hearing.
Watson says it's unclear what charges they would face.
Watson says others in the class encouraged the five boys during the beating. He says those students were suspended for three days.