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Harry C. Battle and Theophilus D. Hamilton, both 16-year-old juniors, were arrested Nov. 25 and charged with attacking Brian Lanese, 33, of the Windy Lake subdivision.
Battle will continue his education through the district's homebound instruction program in which tutors instruct students at home, district spokesman Randy Wall said.
Details of the arrangement still are being finalized, Wall said. He said it is unclear how much the tutoring will cost the school district. The service often is used for students with health problems, he said.
Hamilton has withdrawn from Bluffton High School and probably will continue his education in another district, Wall said.
Continuing school was a condition of the pair's release from jail on bond. They are to be under house arrest when not at work, at school or participating in extracurricular activities, the judge who set the bond ruled.
Hamilton was released on bond from the Beaufort County Detention Center on Dec. 11. Battle was released on bond the next day.
Bluffton High Principal Bob Anderson initially said that neither student had contacted the school district to ask to return before last Friday. However, Wall said Tuesday that both families had been in discussions with the district since the students' arrests.
"The school district has been offering alternative educational services to the students since their incarceration," Wall said. "Those communications have been ongoing."
Despite those offers from the district, Hamilton's mother withdrew her son from school in a meeting attended by her, her son and Anderson at Bluffton High on Monday morning, the first day back from holiday break, Wall said.
The school district first discussed homebound instruction with the Battle family in mid-December, when Battle was still in jail, Wall said.
District officials still plan to hold a hearing, probablywithin the next two weeks, to determine a permanent education arrangement for Battle. They will discuss whether Battle should continue homebound instruction, begin an alternative-style education or be expelled, among other things, Wall said.
"The goal is always to try to provide an education to the student," Wall said. "We have to do what's best for all the
students."
Anderson has said that a number of Bluffton High students and parents have contacted him, the school's guidance counselors and the Bluffton Police Department's school officer to say they would be uncomfortable if Hamilton and Battle returned to school.
A third suspect remains in custody in connection with the Oct. 30 attack. Kuwan A. Fields, 18, of Bluffton has been charged with attacking Jeffery Wooten, 24.
Lanese and Wooten were attacked as they grilled steaks outside Lanese's house. The attackers burst from the woods wearing masks similar to those in the movie "Scream" and beat both men.
The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office said the attackers were attempting to burglarize Lanese's backyard shed.
Lanese spent nearly a month in Savannah's Memorial Health University Medical Center before his release Nov. 26. He suffered serious head trauma and internal bleeding, underwent multiple surgeries and had been in a medically induced coma, spending several weeks in the intensive care unit. Wooten suffered minor injuries.
