Kings Junior High School receives national attention after deer jumped through window

KINGS MILLS, OHIO - A boarded up window covers a hole in Erik Poggi’s classroom at Kings Junior High School — one of the reminders of the school’s interesting intruder earlier this week .

On Monday morning, a 10-point buck jumped through the window in the eighth grade math teacher’s classroom and Poggi — who was in the room at the time the deer came through the window — trapped it in room. No one was hurt, but the deer was reportedly euthanized after it was removed from the building.

Now, the school is working to assess the damage and deal with the recent flood of national media interest.

Reports from CNN, Good Morning America and the Associated Press have brought more attention to the school located at 5620 Columbia Road in King Mills. This is first time the school has seen any kind of animal infiltrator, said Community Relations Coordinator for Kings Local School District, Lindsay Braud.

“The school is close to two wooded areas with woods on the eastern and southern edges, but nothing like this has ever happened before,” Braud said. “Deer may pass by the school on occasion, but none have ever jumped into it.”

Poggi, a soccer coach at Kings, was having a sports-related meeting with students in the classroom when the deer smashed through the window, Braud said. The students fled the room and Poggi closed the door behind him, trapping the deer inside.

Poggi was shaken up after the incident, but seems to be doing well now, Braud added. Calls to Poggi were not returned by the time this story was published.

Classes resumed shortly after the deer was removed at about 8:45 a.m. Monday, but the students in the school are still buzzing about it and many are saying they can’t believe it happened at Kings Junior High School, Braud added.

The deer, who plowed through the classroom and knocked over desks, only caused about $1,000 in damage, Braud said. The deer caused damage to Poggi’s computer and the window. The boarded window will soon be replaced.

Poggi and his students resumed class in the room one day after the buck’s destruction, with only the boarded window to remind them of Monday's chaos. But Poggi and other teachers may keep an eye on the school’s windows from now on.

"It's certainly something we couldn't have expected and we hope doesn't happen again," Braud said.