Tag Archive for restraint

SB 144: Seclusion and Restraint on Students With Disabilities in Public Schools

Child In Florida School Being Restrained

Again this year we try to enact legislation that will help reduce the harmful and often abusive seclusion and restraint of our children with disabilities in our public schools.

Senator Anitere Flores is sponsoring SB 144.  Seclusion and Restraint on Students with Disabilities in Public Shools.

In a nutshell the legislation will do the following:

Seclusion and Restraint on Students With Disabilities in Public Schools; Requiring that manual physical restraint be used only in an emergency when there is an imminent risk of serious injury or death to the student or others; providing restrictions on the use of manual physical restraint; prohibiting the use of manual physical restraint by school personnel who are not certified to use district-approved methods for applying restraint techniques; requiring that each school medically evaluate a student after the student is manually physically restrained; prohibiting school personnel from placing a student in seclusion; providing requirements for the use of time-out; requiring that a school district report its training and certification procedures to the Department of Education, etc.

In the 2010 – 2011 School year we had over 10,000 incidents of restraint reported in our public schools.

Thank you Sen Flores for sponsoring this legislation.  We need to protect our children.

Remember School Is Not Supposed To Hurt.

Keep squeaking those wheels.  Ask your legislator to support or co-sponsor this legislation.

 

 

DA Investigates Abuse of Student with Disabilities in Fulton County

From Georgia:Families Against Restraint And Seclusion

ALPHARETTA, GA (CBS ATLANTA) – Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard confirmed Thursday that a criminal investigation has been launched into the abuse that allegedly took place five years ago at Hopewell Middle School in Milton.

The announcement comes as CBS Atlanta News continues to ask Tough Questions about the abuse allegedly covered up by the Fulton County School System.

In a statement, Howard said, “Let me first begin by applauding CBS Atlanta’s continued reporting of this matter. There is nothing more important to my office than the protection of children and holding accountable those responsible for bringing harm to our most innocent victims.”

Howard continued to say that Fulton County Schools and Roswell Police Departments are jointly investigating allegations of abuse by former special education teacher Melanie Pickens dating back to 2006.

Lisa Williams, the mother of a special needs child reportedly abused, got emotional when told of the criminal investigation.

“That’s what I wanted,” said Williams to reporter Jeff Chirico when he broke the news to her.

Williams said she believes Pickens and others within the district who knew but didn’t stop the abuse should be prosecuted.

Alex Williams, now 18, was reportedly shoved, cursed at and isolated by Pickens at Hopewell Middle School in Milton during the 2006-2007 school year.

Lisa Williams, who said she learned of the abuse from another student’s mother in 2010, testified that the district never told her about the abuse. Williams also said the district blocked out her son’s name in a copy of the 2007 investigative report she requested. The district also withheld other records, she said.

“I was totally unprepared for the corruption. I feel they covered it up in an intentional attempt to prevent me from finding any of this out,” said Williams during a due process hearing in administrative court Wednesday.

The Williams family is requesting that the Fulton County School System pay for Alex’s future education costs estimated at $2.5 million. “I will not send him back there,” said Williams referring to Fulton County schools.

An investigation was commissioned by the Fulton County Board of Education in 2007 to explore possible abuse of a student, Jake Marshall. The 29-page investigative report concluded that former special education teacher Melanie Pickens apparently mistreated six students.

The Fulton County School System has come under fire for failing to tell parents that their children were named as abuse victims in the report which called Pickens’ actions “possibly criminal.”

On Tuesday, Fulton County School Board President Linda Schultz testified she did not know more than one student was abused by a special education teacher because she didn’t read the investigative report.

Schultz testified that she did not know other children were abused until she saw news coverage about it in 2011.

Williams’ attorney, Chris Vance, said the school system should have notified police of the abuse. However, district officials did not notify police until 2009 when it forwarded information to its own police department. Fulton County school police Captain Felipe Usury testified Tuesday he was instructed by his superior to close the case without forwarding the information to the district attorney’s office to determine if laws were broken.

Educators testified Monday about student abuse they allegedly witnessed at the hands of Pickens.

Several former and current employees of the Fulton County School System told similar stories of abuse and neglect including hitting, kicking and shoving special needs students.

According to testimony Monday, Williams was shoved often by Pickens during the 2006-2007 school year. Williams, who was 14 at the time, does not communicate verbally and has trouble walking.

Teaching assistant Denise Baugh testified Pickens burped, passed gas and shook her buttocks and breasts in students’ faces.

Several educators said they reported abuse to then principal Frances M. Boyd who ignored it.

In a bombshell admission, a coordinator for special education services for the Fulton County School System admitted that administration knew Pickens was abusing students for years. Pettes said she had recommended administration not renew Pickens’ contract after her first year as a Fulton County employee in 2002. Pettes said Pickens had trouble handling the students.

The Fulton County School System investigated the abuse of student Jake Marshall in 2007 after a teacher contacted the Division of Family and Children Services about an incident involving another student, Jake Marshall. Marshall, now 19, is nonverbal and has trouble walking.

While being restrained on May 21, 2007, Jake defecated and smeared feces on his body and the chair in an attempt to clean himself, Marshall’s mother Judy said.

The incident led the Fulton County Board of Education to launch the investigation.

Pickens resigned from Fulton County Schools on July 25, 2007, five days after the school system completed the investigative report that confirmed allegations of abuse.

The report indicated the abuse occurred between 2004 and 2007. More than 10 teachers and school staffers gave statements to investigators indicating they witnessed Pickens “hitting Jake on the back of the head.” Statements also revealed Pickens kicked, cursed, pushed and regularly restrained Jake in a seclusion room for long periods of time.

“The investigation determined that the May 21, 2007 incident was the most recent occurrence in an extensive pattern of inappropriate and possibly criminal conduct Pickens subjected upon her special education students,” the report read.

“I never anticipated that school would damage him,” Lisa Williams, Alex’s mother, said.

Doctors diagnosed Alex with post-traumatic stress disorder after leaving Pickens class.

“He refuses to say the word ‘happy’ and that was one of his first words,” said Williams.

Attorney Vance said school officials should have reported the abuse to police long before 2009.

“It is a crime not to report abuse of disabled students,” Vance said.

Police have not charged anyone with a crime.

Vance said she believes the abuse and cover-up is symptomatic of a culture of abuse.

“It was tolerated, accepted and condoned. It is a complete lack of concern for children with special needs,” Vance said.

Marshall said she settled with Fulton County Schools but could not talk about the agreement. The Fulton County School System would also not release the terms of the settlement, despite several requests by CBS Atlanta News.

Mckay Scholarship Under Attack

The headline reads – “New Times exposé forces McKay scholarship reform”.  This has prompted legislators here in Florida to take a look at the McKay scholarship.  There has been fraud and misuse; there is no doubt about that.

The real question now is how will they respond?  Will they increase oversight on the how the scholarship money is being used?  Will they put so many restrictions on it, that it becomes worthless or so hard to qualify for that no one will use it?

The McKay scholarship is primarily for students in public schools who have a disability.  The scholarship allows the parent to remove the student from public school and place the child in a more appropriate private school environment.

Florida public schools have failed miserably when it comes to educating children with disabilities.  The abuse and misuse of seclusion and restraint results in these children being physically and emotionally harmed.  There were over 10,000 incidents of restraint in Florida in class rooms during the last school year.

Public schools in Florida have failed to provide proper and appropriate education for students with special needs.  They routinely place them on a track to receive a “Special Diploma”.  Translate into a “Worthless Diploma.”

The purpose of education is to educate.  Florida schools typically warehouse students with disabilities until they can legally pass them out into society.  These children, now adults, are unprepared and have no job or life skills.

The McKay scholarship was the one hope for many families.  It was the one chance that their child could get an appropriate education.

Now that hope is in jeopardy.  Scandal and budget shortages do not make a good match.  The fixes that the legislature enacts to prevent fraud should not prevent parents from being able to readily and easily access the scholarship.

Any restrictions on the scholarship should not affect the intent.  That being to allow children with disabilities to take their matrix money with them and attend a private school that will provide them with the education they need to be productive and successful adults.

Parents speak up and keep squeaking those wheels.

Bedford Family Alleges Abuse of Autistic Child in $20 Million Lawsuit

If it keeps costing our schools (and taxpayers) millions, maybe the abuse of seclusion and restraint will end in our public schools.

This from Bedford VA, provided by Georgia:Families Against Restraint And Seclusion

Bedford County’s school board and several current and former school employees are facing a $20 million lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, a 14-year-old autistic boy was attacked on his school bus by people who were supposed to protect him.

The alleged incidents happened more than two years ago. Attorneys for the boy’s family have produced video tape that they say shows some of the attacks.

Video captured from a school bus surveillance camera appears to show an adult woman kicking and hitting a young boy. Attorneys say the women is Mary Alice Evans, a former Bedford County teacher’s aide.

The child is an autistic boy.

—————————————-

We need to keep squeaking our wheels.  Wake up our children are being abused in school.  School is not supposed to hurt.

From Atlanta Georgia – 4-year-old Says Teacher Spanked Her With Shoe

This is from a posting on Members in Georgia:Families Against Restraint And  Seclusion.

ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) –
A 4-year-old girl in the Atlanta Public School system says her teacher spanked her bare bottom with a shoe during class. Now the teacher is out of the classroom.

CBS Atlanta spoke to that girl’s grandmother, Virginia Leslie, who admits that her granddaughter Shamiya is hyper, but said that a teacher spanking the little girl with a shoe was not the answer.

“I thought spankings (weren’t) done at school,” said Leslie. “This is 2011.”

Leslie said she is irate over what Shamiya said happened while she attended Pre-K at East Lake Elementary.

“My teacher pulled my panties down and my skirt down and whooped me with a big shoe,” said Shamiya.

Shamiya told her grandma the spanking happened a week-and-a-half ago. The teacher apparently pulled her out of music class.

“What gives a teacher who is not related whatsoever the right to whoop a child?” said Leslie. ” Not just to whoop them, but to pull their underpants down?”

Leslie said she notified the school the next day, but she said she isn’t happy with the way the system has handled the case.

Shamiya hasn’t been back to school in a week. Monday, Leslie filed a police report.

“I just don’t want to put her back up there,” said Leslie. “The same teacher is there and the same thing could happen and then I feel like I would be at fault for allowing it to happen again.”

Leslie said the school district told her Shamiya could transfer to another school, but said she didn’t like that option either.

“Why? What did she do wrong?” said Leslie. “The wrong was done to her. She didn’t do anything wrong. She’s a kid. She’s a child.”

A spokesperson with the Atlanta Public Schools told CBS Atlanta that they are investigating the report.

After questioning from CBS Atlanta, the system temporarily reassigned the teacher outside of the school and away from children, pending the outcome of the investigation.

School should be a safe place for all children! Keep squeaking those wheels maybe one day our children with disabilities will be safe from abuse in our public schools.

More Abuse of Students With Disabilities In Florida Schools

Child In Florida School Being Restrained

From St Lucie County in Florida comes another story of inappropriate use of seclusion and restraint.  Children with disabilities can be secluded and physically restrained in Florida public schools.  This abuse of our children needs to stop.

A First grader was handcuffed and taken to a mental health facility.  This is a First grader a child who is 7 or maybe 8 years old.

His hands were handcuffed behind him by the Sherriff and he was taken to the local mental health facility where he was baker acted.

The child was restrained after and incident with another student.

Realize that restraints can only be used if the child is a threat to self or others.  The child has to pose a serious threat of bodily harm.  How does a 7 or 8 year old who weighs less than 60 pounds create a life threatening incident?

The facts are still unclear.  The parents are having a hard time finding what exactly happened.  This despite the fact that new Florida legislation requires the school to file a detailed report with the State for all restraint incidents.  Parents are also required to be notified.
A representative for the school district declined issued this statement: “The school district and school staff are continuing to work with the family for the best educational opportunity for the child and in his best interest.”

Translate that into – the school does not want to be sued but will really not do anything to help educate this child.

We need to stop abusing our children in our public schools.  School is not supposed to hurt.

Keep squeaking those wheels. Do not put up with abuse of our children.

More Abuse of Disabled Students In School

A disabled child in Georgia was repeatedly sprayed with Lysol for passing gas in school.  Now for a lot of middle school children this might be a good joke or gag.  However, this was a child Downs Syndrome.  This young child is unable to communicate verbally.

The teacher is accused of doing this has been accused of other abusive practices for a three year period between 2004 and 2007.

Why is this just now making the news?  It seems the Fulton County School System had been withholding complaints against this teacher.  These complaints and incidents were made public just recently.

The report that is only now being released includes statements from other teachers, school nurses and support staff alleging abuse.  The principal failed to report any of these incidents to the Division of Family and Children Services as is required by law in Georgia.

Among the allegations reported by other school personnel over the three year period are that the teacher; hit, kicked, stepped on, restrained, isolated and neglected students. In one case, she allegedly threw a camera at a child’s head which caused swelling and bruising.

This continued for three years.  The principal knew it was happening and continued to cover it up.  Only recently were the teacher and principal removed.  It is too little to late. Neither has been charged with any criminal act.  Both were allowed to resign so they keep their pension and benefits.

Talk about a cover up.  Pull the covers from over your head Georgia.

Parents of the “normal” children may think this is an isolated incident.  It is not.  This happens in all states and happens often.
Children with disabilities are being abused and neglected on a regular basis by public schools across this country.  They have no voice.  Those of us who speak out for them are too few and our voices are often ignored.

I will keep shouting into the wind if I have to.  I know that the squeaky wheelchair will eventually be heard.

Stop Abuse of Students In Schools

TASH is organizing another campaign against restraint, seclusion and the abuse of disabled students enrolled in public schools. If you are interested in signing the document, please provide me with your email address, and title the email TASH. The more signatures we have, the louder our children’s voices become.
Together we can end legalized abuse!  Go To Cause.