Tag Archive for teacher

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.

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.