Since August 2017, Okaloosa County has witnessed ongoing issues with its main educational body that are quite unlike any seen in the county’s history.

Driven by Northwest Florida Daily News investigative reporting, the first revelation came following confirmation that the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office was actively investigating allegations of child abuse involving a nonverbal special education student at Kenwood Elementary School. That, however, was just the tip of the iceberg for the Okaloosa County School District.

Following that initial story at Kenwood — first discovered by the little boy’s father, Eddie Perillo, after a year of being kept from public knowledge — investigations, more abuse of special education students, cover-ups, harassment, formal complaints, public misrepresentations, mistruths and contradictions by district officials, arrests, confirmation of state Sunshine Law violations and a lawsuit have followed.