DesMoinesRegister.com
By STACI HUPPshupp@dmreg.com
June 30, 2008
Iowa has joined a nationwide push to curb the use of physical force and "timeout" rooms in schools to discipline the most unruly students.
A proposal before the state Board of Education would limit how and when teachers can lock up children and would ban risky methods of restraint, including chokeholds.
Teachers also would be trained to use "positive" alternatives, such as talking through disputes with children.
"Teachers struggle with what's appropriate," said Judy Jeffrey, director of the Iowa Department of Education. "This really provides additional guidance."
State law allows school officials to hold down and confine children who are a threat to themselves or others, just as group homes do. But critics say educators overdo it sometimes.
In 2006, a Waukee couple complained that their 8-year-old daughter was alone in timeout for more than three hours because she refused to finish a reading assignment. Waukee school officials have said they did nothing wrong, but an administrative law judge disagreed. The district's discipline policy has not changed.
"The problem that some of my colleagues have noted is an educationally inappropriate use of seclusion and restraint - 'You were disrespectful; go into the timeout room,' versus 'You were disrespectful; how can we help you be more respectful?' " said Thomas Mayes, an attorney for the education department.
Dave Wilkerson, Waukee's superintendent of schools, said he's open to input from state officials but questions that such a specific policy will work. "To try to put a policy in place that's going to fit every situation, I think, is going to be impossible," he said.
Other states have reviewed timeout in the face of lawsuits against school districts, researchers say.At the same time, studies have shown teachers confine students for the wrong reasons.
A James Madison University survey of teachers at one Minnesota school found that teachers were more likely to lock up children for minor misbehavior.
"Without any guidance and policies, they make very poor choices, and kids suffer the consequences of it," said Joseph Ryan, a Clemson University professor who worked on the 2004 survey.
How often teachers lock up students in Iowa is difficult to track because the state lacks a clear reporting system. That would change under the state proposal, which calls on educators to keep records of every incident.
The proposal would be part of Iowa's corporal punishment law, which has been in place since 1991. The law covers public and private schools and area education agencies.The state proposal also says educators:
- Can't hold a child face down or otherwise use force that hampers a child's ability to breathe.
- Must provide "continuous" supervision of children in timeout rooms.
- Must get permission from an administrator to confine a child for longer than an hour.
- Can't lock up or restrain children for "minor infractions."
- Can lock the door of a timeout room only if they hold the lock in position, or the lock automatically releases when school alarms go off or power is cut off.
- Must use timeout rooms that are safe and suitable for children of varying sizes, ages and conditions.
"It's kind of frightening, frankly, to see that you have to be this specific," said Susan Myers, a mother who heads the Access for Special Kids Family Resource Center, a nonprofit advocacy group.
"I don't believe that teachers or building administrators set out to be unkind or cruel or harmful to children. In the rare occasion that that happens, it happens really because of ignorance as to what to do. This should help alleviate any instance of that."
Iowans can weigh in on the state proposal at a public hearing July 8. Members of the state education board are expected to vote on it this fall.
A spokeswoman at the state's largest teachers union said she wasn't familiar enough with the proposal to comment about it.
Doug and Eva Loeffler, the parents who complained about the Waukee school district timeout policy, could not be reached for comment last week.
Showing posts with label Seclusion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seclusion. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Oldham County school at odds with parents of autistic boy
May 19, 2008
Charges met by countercharges
By Deborah Yetter
mailto:mdyetter@courier-journal.com
Oldham County school officials say they will seek truancy charges against a Centerfield couple who removed their autistic son from his public elementary school after learning he'd been locked repeatedly in a small "time-out" room.
Jeanie Montgomery, who pulled her 9-year-old son, Matthew, from Crestwood Elementary on March 31, had requested home educational services for him for the rest of the school year, citing his medical and psychological problems, as well as concerns about cuts and scrapes he received at school. She said she has reported those concerns to state child-abuse authorities.
State law allows school districts to provide homebound services for children whose families prove that an illness or disability makes it inadvisable for them to go to school.
But Oldham officials rejected Montgomery's request, and on May 8 they sent her and her husband, Robert, a "final notice" warning that school officials would take them to court if Matthew wasn't returned to school, according to a copy of the letter the family provided The Courier-Journal.
Jeanie Montgomery said she and her husband have no plans to comply.
"I don't think Matthew needs to be in that environment," she said. "I think it's been very damaging to him."
Oldham County school spokeswoman Rebecca DeSensi confirmed that the school system plans to seek charges. She said school officials don't believe Matthew qualifies for home services and said state child-abuse investigators have not reported that he is in any danger if he returns to finish out the school year, which ends June 5.
"That's why we are expecting him to be in school," she said.
Oldham County policy deems a student truant after six unexcused absences. Matthew has accumulated 22 unexcused absences from March 31 through May 7, according to the school system's May 8 final notice to Montgomery.
DeSensi said the school system applies the policy to all children.
"The state says kids must be in school," she said.
But Montgomery said she believes Matthew was mistreated at school, including being placed nearly 80 times in the time-out room last fall, sometimes locked in. On his last day of school, March 28, Montgomery said Matthew came home with injuries including abrasions that Kosair Children's Hospital reported to authorities as possible abuse.
DeSensi said state investigators have not told the school system anything about their investigation -- including whether they have reached any conclusions. State officials have told
The Courier-Journal they can't comment because of confidentiality laws.
DeSensi and Anne Coorssen, general counsel for the Oldham school system, discussed many specifics of Matthew's case in an interview Wednesday, including the decision to deny him home services.
But they said they could provide more information if Matthew's mother would sign a release. Montgomery declined, saying she has lost trust in the school system and isn't willing to sign any documents they produce.
Oldham County Attorney John Fendley, who handles truancy prosecutions, said the case hasn't reached his office. But generally, he said, parents reported to him by the school system are charged with the misdemeanor offense of unlawful transaction with a minor.
The penalty is up to one year in jail and a $500 fine.
"These are not easy cases, believe me," said Fendley, adding that he evaluates each case before deciding how to proceed. "This autism situation is going to be a difficult one."
Matthew is considered severely autistic and has limited speech, but his private therapists who work with him at home say he is intelligent and capable of learning. Matthew had been in a class with other autistic students at Crestwood Elementary but recently had been receiving much of his instruction alone in a separate classroom, according to his mother and therapists.
Position elicits surprise
The school system's intent to seek charges against the parents shocked Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates and a former educator and high school principal.
"That's amazing," he said. "I would hope that the school system would reconsider its position and focus on the best interests of the child."
State law gives local school districts broad discretion on whether to offer home services, said Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman for the state Education Department.
"It's all about what's appropriate for the particular child's need," she said. "It really is a local issue."
In Jefferson County, about 4,200 of the public school system's 98,000 students -- about one out of 23 -- received home educational services this year, according to school officials.
In Oldham, 35 of the system's 12,000 students -- about one out of 340 -- were approved for home services this year, DeSensi said.
To receive home services, state law requires a signed physician's statement that the child's condition "prevents or renders inadvisable attendance at school."
Montgomery said she has provided two such letters from Matthew's pediatricians, the last one asking for more time for an independent psychological examination of the child.
A March 28 letter from Dr. Jeff Wampler, with All Children Pediatrics, cited Matthew's autism and other health issues, including allergies and gastrointestinal problems, as a reason for requesting temporary homebound services. On an application the school requested, Wampler also cited "investigation for abuse at school."
In a follow-up letter to Oldham school officials on May 1, Dr. Jeffrey Burton said he believes Matthew may be suffering from fear and stress over his experiences at school and requested time for a psychologist's evaluation.
"I would encourage you to allow Matthew's parents more time and latitude before you start any type of legal proceeding," Burton wrote.
But Coorssen said the school system does not believe the physicians' letters adequately detailed Matthew's medical problems.
"Those are just blanket statements you can get from anybody," she said.
School defends itself
DeSensi said Oldham school Superintendent Paul S. Upchurch would not comment on the case because he does not talk to reporters. But she said he believes the district has handled
Matthew's case appropriately.
"The superintendent believes that all Oldham County schools are safe," DeSensi said. "We have excellent services for all of our special-needs children."
Montgomery disagrees.
"Everyone's got such a wonderful perception of Oldham County schools," she said. "If you have a special-needs kid, they are not doing their job, as far as I'm concerned."
Montgomery said she met with school officials repeatedly to try to resolve the situation before deciding to remove Matthew. She said she, her lawyer and a therapist met again with school officials for about 10 hours over two days last week in an unsuccessful attempt to agree on an educational plan.
Montgomery said school officials offered to transfer Matthew to another school -- but only if the same special-needs teacher accompanied him. Montgomery said she wouldn't agree to that.
She said school officials also insisted they needed to continue use of a time-out room for misbehavior, which Montgomery and Meghan Launius, a therapist who works with Matthew at home, said is nothing more than an empty, poorly lit closet.
School officials cited Matthew's aggressive behavior -- hitting, scratching or trying to bite staff -- as the reason they need to continue use of the time-out room, said Montgomery and Launius, who also attended the meeting.
"They seem to believe that because his behaviors are getting worse, it's okay to be more punitive," Launius said. "I think he's acting that way because they are acting more punitive."
School records the family obtained showed that Matthew had been placed in the time-out room nearly 80 times last fall.
School officials removed a lock on the room after Montgomery observed a teacher releasing Matthew from there during an unexpected visit to his classroom in November.
Before that, Montgomery said she hadn't realized Matthew was being locked in the small room and thought time-out meant he was being isolated in his classroom.
Coorssen said in April that school officials didn't know who put the lock on the time-out room door, but had ordered it removed and were investigating how it got there. She said Wednesday the investigation is continuing.
Montgomery said her next step is to pursue a formal complaint with the state Education Department, alleging Matthew is being denied appropriate educational services.
Meanwhile, she said she is prepared to defend herself against possible truancy charges.
"I really think they thought I was going to be scared of them, but I'm not," she said. "I know they've made some huge mistakes."
Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.
Charges met by countercharges
By Deborah Yetter
mailto:mdyetter@courier-journal.com
Oldham County school officials say they will seek truancy charges against a Centerfield couple who removed their autistic son from his public elementary school after learning he'd been locked repeatedly in a small "time-out" room.
Jeanie Montgomery, who pulled her 9-year-old son, Matthew, from Crestwood Elementary on March 31, had requested home educational services for him for the rest of the school year, citing his medical and psychological problems, as well as concerns about cuts and scrapes he received at school. She said she has reported those concerns to state child-abuse authorities.
State law allows school districts to provide homebound services for children whose families prove that an illness or disability makes it inadvisable for them to go to school.
But Oldham officials rejected Montgomery's request, and on May 8 they sent her and her husband, Robert, a "final notice" warning that school officials would take them to court if Matthew wasn't returned to school, according to a copy of the letter the family provided The Courier-Journal.
Jeanie Montgomery said she and her husband have no plans to comply.
"I don't think Matthew needs to be in that environment," she said. "I think it's been very damaging to him."
Oldham County school spokeswoman Rebecca DeSensi confirmed that the school system plans to seek charges. She said school officials don't believe Matthew qualifies for home services and said state child-abuse investigators have not reported that he is in any danger if he returns to finish out the school year, which ends June 5.
"That's why we are expecting him to be in school," she said.
Oldham County policy deems a student truant after six unexcused absences. Matthew has accumulated 22 unexcused absences from March 31 through May 7, according to the school system's May 8 final notice to Montgomery.
DeSensi said the school system applies the policy to all children.
"The state says kids must be in school," she said.
But Montgomery said she believes Matthew was mistreated at school, including being placed nearly 80 times in the time-out room last fall, sometimes locked in. On his last day of school, March 28, Montgomery said Matthew came home with injuries including abrasions that Kosair Children's Hospital reported to authorities as possible abuse.
DeSensi said state investigators have not told the school system anything about their investigation -- including whether they have reached any conclusions. State officials have told
The Courier-Journal they can't comment because of confidentiality laws.
DeSensi and Anne Coorssen, general counsel for the Oldham school system, discussed many specifics of Matthew's case in an interview Wednesday, including the decision to deny him home services.
But they said they could provide more information if Matthew's mother would sign a release. Montgomery declined, saying she has lost trust in the school system and isn't willing to sign any documents they produce.
Oldham County Attorney John Fendley, who handles truancy prosecutions, said the case hasn't reached his office. But generally, he said, parents reported to him by the school system are charged with the misdemeanor offense of unlawful transaction with a minor.
The penalty is up to one year in jail and a $500 fine.
"These are not easy cases, believe me," said Fendley, adding that he evaluates each case before deciding how to proceed. "This autism situation is going to be a difficult one."
Matthew is considered severely autistic and has limited speech, but his private therapists who work with him at home say he is intelligent and capable of learning. Matthew had been in a class with other autistic students at Crestwood Elementary but recently had been receiving much of his instruction alone in a separate classroom, according to his mother and therapists.
Position elicits surprise
The school system's intent to seek charges against the parents shocked Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates and a former educator and high school principal.
"That's amazing," he said. "I would hope that the school system would reconsider its position and focus on the best interests of the child."
State law gives local school districts broad discretion on whether to offer home services, said Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman for the state Education Department.
"It's all about what's appropriate for the particular child's need," she said. "It really is a local issue."
In Jefferson County, about 4,200 of the public school system's 98,000 students -- about one out of 23 -- received home educational services this year, according to school officials.
In Oldham, 35 of the system's 12,000 students -- about one out of 340 -- were approved for home services this year, DeSensi said.
To receive home services, state law requires a signed physician's statement that the child's condition "prevents or renders inadvisable attendance at school."
Montgomery said she has provided two such letters from Matthew's pediatricians, the last one asking for more time for an independent psychological examination of the child.
A March 28 letter from Dr. Jeff Wampler, with All Children Pediatrics, cited Matthew's autism and other health issues, including allergies and gastrointestinal problems, as a reason for requesting temporary homebound services. On an application the school requested, Wampler also cited "investigation for abuse at school."
In a follow-up letter to Oldham school officials on May 1, Dr. Jeffrey Burton said he believes Matthew may be suffering from fear and stress over his experiences at school and requested time for a psychologist's evaluation.
"I would encourage you to allow Matthew's parents more time and latitude before you start any type of legal proceeding," Burton wrote.
But Coorssen said the school system does not believe the physicians' letters adequately detailed Matthew's medical problems.
"Those are just blanket statements you can get from anybody," she said.
School defends itself
DeSensi said Oldham school Superintendent Paul S. Upchurch would not comment on the case because he does not talk to reporters. But she said he believes the district has handled
Matthew's case appropriately.
"The superintendent believes that all Oldham County schools are safe," DeSensi said. "We have excellent services for all of our special-needs children."
Montgomery disagrees.
"Everyone's got such a wonderful perception of Oldham County schools," she said. "If you have a special-needs kid, they are not doing their job, as far as I'm concerned."
Montgomery said she met with school officials repeatedly to try to resolve the situation before deciding to remove Matthew. She said she, her lawyer and a therapist met again with school officials for about 10 hours over two days last week in an unsuccessful attempt to agree on an educational plan.
Montgomery said school officials offered to transfer Matthew to another school -- but only if the same special-needs teacher accompanied him. Montgomery said she wouldn't agree to that.
She said school officials also insisted they needed to continue use of a time-out room for misbehavior, which Montgomery and Meghan Launius, a therapist who works with Matthew at home, said is nothing more than an empty, poorly lit closet.
School officials cited Matthew's aggressive behavior -- hitting, scratching or trying to bite staff -- as the reason they need to continue use of the time-out room, said Montgomery and Launius, who also attended the meeting.
"They seem to believe that because his behaviors are getting worse, it's okay to be more punitive," Launius said. "I think he's acting that way because they are acting more punitive."
School records the family obtained showed that Matthew had been placed in the time-out room nearly 80 times last fall.
School officials removed a lock on the room after Montgomery observed a teacher releasing Matthew from there during an unexpected visit to his classroom in November.
Before that, Montgomery said she hadn't realized Matthew was being locked in the small room and thought time-out meant he was being isolated in his classroom.
Coorssen said in April that school officials didn't know who put the lock on the time-out room door, but had ordered it removed and were investigating how it got there. She said Wednesday the investigation is continuing.
Montgomery said her next step is to pursue a formal complaint with the state Education Department, alleging Matthew is being denied appropriate educational services.
Meanwhile, she said she is prepared to defend herself against possible truancy charges.
"I really think they thought I was going to be scared of them, but I'm not," she said. "I know they've made some huge mistakes."
Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Down But Not Out
Family continues fighting for special-ed students’ rights despite investigations vindicating local schools
By By Erin Frustaci
efrustaci@fortcollinsnow.com
Daniel and Susan Swearingen were hopeful that months of frustration and ongoing discord with Poudre School District would finally end now that two investigation into their complaints that teachers improperly used seclusion and restraint techniques on their son have been completed.
But those investigations didn’t support their allegations.
They view it as just another hurdle to overcome; by now, the Swearingens have become accustomed to disappointment.
The couple submitted two complaints of discrimination on behalf of their 12-year-old son Ryan last spring: One to the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and another to Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies’ Division of Civil Rights (DORA).
Among the allegations, the Swearingens said teachers at Johnson Elementary School improperly restrained and secluded Ryan, who displays symptoms of autism and was diagnosed this month with Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
OCR completed its investigation in November and concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to support the Swearingens’ claims of discrimination.
The family hoped DORA would report in their favor, but that agency also found no violations in the case. They were informed of the investigation’s result last week. Undaunted, they say they plan to file an appeal to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. (See the related article, “PSD Vindicated by Oversight Agencies,” by typing the title into the search bar.)
Susan said the family is considering all of their options, which could include legal action.
“We do plan on finding ways to hold the district accountable and if that is through civil action, then that is our plan,” Daniel added.
Laura Richardson, PSD’s director for integrated services, said that DORA’s findings show that there was no wrongdoing on the district’s part.
These results mark the third time the family has failed to get oversight agencies to see things their way. They contacted The Legal Center for People With Disabilities and Older People after writing letters of complaint to state and federal politicians. The Legal Center told them there wasn’t enough evidence to launch an investigation into their claims. But as reported in Fort Collins Now on April 25, the Swearingens’ complaints led the watchdog group to investigate the claims of other families with similar complaints. It found that two PSD elementary schools violated strict rules governing how and when teachers can physically restrain and seclude children.
Among other findings, The Legal Center found that Werner and Linton elementary schools failed to properly document when children were restrained and secluded, and failed to inform their parents when such techniques were used.
Those same complaints are at the heart of the Swearingens’ allegations as well.
***
The family of four moved to Fort Collins from Red Feather Lakes in August of 2003 and Ryan enrolled in Johnson Elementary school. His parents say the first year went pretty well overall, but as time went on things seemed to slide. Because Ryan has special needs, his parents worked with educators to develop what’s called an Individualized Education Program, or IEP. Meetings to discuss Ryan’s educational needs with special education teachers, the principal and other staff members became part of their normal routine. They kept abreast of his progress through the use of a communication notebook which was sent back and forth between the teacher or paraprofessional and the parents.
Susan says the comments in the notebook were often quite positive. However, Ryan was not without his bad days and the number of those bad days began to increase, a circumstance his parents said may have been exacerbated by turnover among the school’s specialized staff.
Soon, Ryan began trying to leave school—a new and worrisome behavior that eventually escalated to more serious incidents, including physical confrontations with teachers.
Susan said the documentation of incidents or outbursts did not always explain why they occurred or how the school handled them. She also said she was not always informed of the incidents. In fact, the Swearingens say they did not have a clear picture of what was really happening between Ryan and his teachers until they requested copies of their son’s file from the school last April. Though it was a long process, they began collecting bits and pieces of documentation on their son through the school and the district.
They were alarmed by what they learned.
“We realized something serious was going on,” Susan said. “You are realizing how much your child was going through. If we had known, at least we could have explained why these things were happening and there could have been a different outcome for him. It was quite disturbing.”
One incident that stood out to the Swearingens occurred on Dec. 8, 2004. According to the Swearingens, Ryan left school and Teresa Matzdorff, the moderate-needs teacher, followed him to where they lived just more than a block from the school and then restrained him in order to get him back to school. Documenting the incident, school staff wrote, “They were coming back—Ryan in a hold and resisting.” That documentation also says the parents were informed of what happened.
But the Swearingens say not only were they never told of this incident, but Ryan’s IEP plan did not include restraint as an option to dealing with his behaviors. They also say they were not informed that that school resource officer was notified and that Ryan was placed on in in-school suspension for a day for leaving school grounds.
Such discrepancies between the school’s accounts of incidences and the Swearingens’ have become a common theme, making it difficult to sort out the truth of many events involving Ryan. Adding to the complication are two very different pictures painted of the same child. Often, the school’s reports—copies of which were obtained by FC Now from the Swearingens, who got them from the school and the district—depict an aggressive, confrontational and belligerent child who kicked his teachers and threatened to bring a knife to school.
His parents, on the other hand, say he is the victim in the situation.
“It’s not just us that sees a different child” from the one depicted in the school’s accounts, Daniel said. He admits that Ryan gets frustrated and yells at times, but nothing more than any other child.
“Any provider or outside person who works with him sees the same child we see,” he said. “What district employees put on paper is that he is an out of control, disruptive behavioral and social problem. We definitely have dueling stories.”
Despite continuing to work with the school to fine-tune Ryan’s educational plan, the breaking point came in March 2007 when Ryan tried to leave the school again. His teacher and a paraprofessional grabbed him by the wrists, apparently afraid he was going to run into oncoming traffic. The school alleges that one of his arms broke free and he punched his teacher in the ribs. They brought Ryan back in and placed him in the time-out room. Ryan was ticketed for assaulting his teacher. After a few trips to court and a competency evaluation, the case was dismissed last June.
Based on past conflicting reports, Ryan’s parents aren’t convinced things happened the way the school described. They are also concerned that at the time of this restraint, not everyone who was involved was properly certified in how to apply the techniques safely.
“It was absolutely horrible,” Susan said of the incident. “He was terrified. ... The experience was unbelievable, to put thing nicely.”
Since then, Ryan has not attended Johnson. He’s now on the homebound program, where a teacher employed by the district comes to the home to work with him individually.
Although the Swearingens put the blame for Ryan’s situation squarely on the school district, the investigating agencies concluded that the school did nothing wrong and in fact took “extra steps” to try and accommodate Ryan.
Richardson, the district’s director for integrated services, agreed that there may be different perceptions at work. Richardson is relatively new to the position and wasn’t working for the district when many of the disputed incidents took place. She joined PSD in January; coming out of retirement after 18 years with the Windsor School District to replace Chris Schott, who retired after serving for three years.
“Coming in new to the district, I was impressed with the professionalism,” she said of the special-ed program. “The focus is always on what’s best for the students. That really impresses me.”
Gail Follett, Ryan’s homebound teacher, said although there were significant problems when Ryan attended Johnson, he hasn’t been a problem in the homebound setting.
“He’s very attentive,” she said. “He wants to learn a lot. He is extremely cooperative and willing. He is a joy to work with and never caused a moment of trouble or stress at all. He’s a teacher’s dream student, at least with me in homebound.”
She also said he is the type of child that really benefits from the one on one setting and given his developmental problems, could have difficulties functioning in a classroom with quite a few kids.
Though his parents are seeing improvement, they are still set on bringing about some kind of change within the school and the district.
“Parents need to be aware that they are not alone,” Susan said. “This is not an isolated incident. It’s widespread.”
That’s exactly what Jennifer Taylor, a mother of four discovered after hearing about the Swearingens’ story. Her 10-year-old daughter, Gracie, was diagnosed with epilepsy. The family moved from Utah when Gracie was in second grade. She attended Zach Core Knowledge school. Taylor said the staff restrained Gracie when she was having complex partial seizures even though she repeatedly told them her doctor said this is the worst thing to do.
Last year, the situation had gotten so bad that Taylor considered moving out of Fort Collins. She said she was watching her daughter deteriorate in front of her eyes. She said she just wanted the district to do the right thing.
“She’s a good kid and doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her,” Taylor said. “I’m not saying she’s 100 percent easy. That’s never been my claim, but I’ve also tried to give them ways to deal with things. All we want is for her to have an opportunity to be educated like every other kid—nothing special.”
Like Ryan, Gracie is on a homebound education program, and her placement will be reevaluated for the next school year. After hearing the stories of other families, Taylor also recently filed a complaint with The Legal Center.
“It’s a system that desperately needs some kind of check and balance in place,” Daniel Swearingen said. “One of the greatest motivators for us is seeing justice is righted for our son and other kids.”
The district defends its staff as highly qualified and constantly working collaboratively with parents in the best interest of the students.
“We all have different perceptions that can get in the way,” Richardson said. “We will continue to work with them in the best interest of their child and hope we can collaborate to have a great education for their child.”
Richardson said one thing that is being considered that could strengthen communication with parents is developing some trainings for parents. She said overall, there are good open lines of communication within the special education program.
Still, the Swearingens maintain that more needs to be done.
“Either we are a couple of crackpots, or we are telling the truth,” Daniel said.
Correction: In the first article in this series published April 25, “When Time-Out Goes Too Far,” FCN incorrectly reported that the investigation by the Office of Civil Rights was ongoing. In fact, it had been completed.
http://www.fortcollinsnow.com
By By Erin Frustaci
efrustaci@fortcollinsnow.com
Daniel and Susan Swearingen were hopeful that months of frustration and ongoing discord with Poudre School District would finally end now that two investigation into their complaints that teachers improperly used seclusion and restraint techniques on their son have been completed.
But those investigations didn’t support their allegations.
They view it as just another hurdle to overcome; by now, the Swearingens have become accustomed to disappointment.
The couple submitted two complaints of discrimination on behalf of their 12-year-old son Ryan last spring: One to the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and another to Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies’ Division of Civil Rights (DORA).
Among the allegations, the Swearingens said teachers at Johnson Elementary School improperly restrained and secluded Ryan, who displays symptoms of autism and was diagnosed this month with Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
OCR completed its investigation in November and concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to support the Swearingens’ claims of discrimination.
The family hoped DORA would report in their favor, but that agency also found no violations in the case. They were informed of the investigation’s result last week. Undaunted, they say they plan to file an appeal to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. (See the related article, “PSD Vindicated by Oversight Agencies,” by typing the title into the search bar.)
Susan said the family is considering all of their options, which could include legal action.
“We do plan on finding ways to hold the district accountable and if that is through civil action, then that is our plan,” Daniel added.
Laura Richardson, PSD’s director for integrated services, said that DORA’s findings show that there was no wrongdoing on the district’s part.
These results mark the third time the family has failed to get oversight agencies to see things their way. They contacted The Legal Center for People With Disabilities and Older People after writing letters of complaint to state and federal politicians. The Legal Center told them there wasn’t enough evidence to launch an investigation into their claims. But as reported in Fort Collins Now on April 25, the Swearingens’ complaints led the watchdog group to investigate the claims of other families with similar complaints. It found that two PSD elementary schools violated strict rules governing how and when teachers can physically restrain and seclude children.
Among other findings, The Legal Center found that Werner and Linton elementary schools failed to properly document when children were restrained and secluded, and failed to inform their parents when such techniques were used.
Those same complaints are at the heart of the Swearingens’ allegations as well.
***
The family of four moved to Fort Collins from Red Feather Lakes in August of 2003 and Ryan enrolled in Johnson Elementary school. His parents say the first year went pretty well overall, but as time went on things seemed to slide. Because Ryan has special needs, his parents worked with educators to develop what’s called an Individualized Education Program, or IEP. Meetings to discuss Ryan’s educational needs with special education teachers, the principal and other staff members became part of their normal routine. They kept abreast of his progress through the use of a communication notebook which was sent back and forth between the teacher or paraprofessional and the parents.
Susan says the comments in the notebook were often quite positive. However, Ryan was not without his bad days and the number of those bad days began to increase, a circumstance his parents said may have been exacerbated by turnover among the school’s specialized staff.
Soon, Ryan began trying to leave school—a new and worrisome behavior that eventually escalated to more serious incidents, including physical confrontations with teachers.
Susan said the documentation of incidents or outbursts did not always explain why they occurred or how the school handled them. She also said she was not always informed of the incidents. In fact, the Swearingens say they did not have a clear picture of what was really happening between Ryan and his teachers until they requested copies of their son’s file from the school last April. Though it was a long process, they began collecting bits and pieces of documentation on their son through the school and the district.
They were alarmed by what they learned.
“We realized something serious was going on,” Susan said. “You are realizing how much your child was going through. If we had known, at least we could have explained why these things were happening and there could have been a different outcome for him. It was quite disturbing.”
One incident that stood out to the Swearingens occurred on Dec. 8, 2004. According to the Swearingens, Ryan left school and Teresa Matzdorff, the moderate-needs teacher, followed him to where they lived just more than a block from the school and then restrained him in order to get him back to school. Documenting the incident, school staff wrote, “They were coming back—Ryan in a hold and resisting.” That documentation also says the parents were informed of what happened.
But the Swearingens say not only were they never told of this incident, but Ryan’s IEP plan did not include restraint as an option to dealing with his behaviors. They also say they were not informed that that school resource officer was notified and that Ryan was placed on in in-school suspension for a day for leaving school grounds.
Such discrepancies between the school’s accounts of incidences and the Swearingens’ have become a common theme, making it difficult to sort out the truth of many events involving Ryan. Adding to the complication are two very different pictures painted of the same child. Often, the school’s reports—copies of which were obtained by FC Now from the Swearingens, who got them from the school and the district—depict an aggressive, confrontational and belligerent child who kicked his teachers and threatened to bring a knife to school.
His parents, on the other hand, say he is the victim in the situation.
“It’s not just us that sees a different child” from the one depicted in the school’s accounts, Daniel said. He admits that Ryan gets frustrated and yells at times, but nothing more than any other child.
“Any provider or outside person who works with him sees the same child we see,” he said. “What district employees put on paper is that he is an out of control, disruptive behavioral and social problem. We definitely have dueling stories.”
Despite continuing to work with the school to fine-tune Ryan’s educational plan, the breaking point came in March 2007 when Ryan tried to leave the school again. His teacher and a paraprofessional grabbed him by the wrists, apparently afraid he was going to run into oncoming traffic. The school alleges that one of his arms broke free and he punched his teacher in the ribs. They brought Ryan back in and placed him in the time-out room. Ryan was ticketed for assaulting his teacher. After a few trips to court and a competency evaluation, the case was dismissed last June.
Based on past conflicting reports, Ryan’s parents aren’t convinced things happened the way the school described. They are also concerned that at the time of this restraint, not everyone who was involved was properly certified in how to apply the techniques safely.
“It was absolutely horrible,” Susan said of the incident. “He was terrified. ... The experience was unbelievable, to put thing nicely.”
Since then, Ryan has not attended Johnson. He’s now on the homebound program, where a teacher employed by the district comes to the home to work with him individually.
Although the Swearingens put the blame for Ryan’s situation squarely on the school district, the investigating agencies concluded that the school did nothing wrong and in fact took “extra steps” to try and accommodate Ryan.
Richardson, the district’s director for integrated services, agreed that there may be different perceptions at work. Richardson is relatively new to the position and wasn’t working for the district when many of the disputed incidents took place. She joined PSD in January; coming out of retirement after 18 years with the Windsor School District to replace Chris Schott, who retired after serving for three years.
“Coming in new to the district, I was impressed with the professionalism,” she said of the special-ed program. “The focus is always on what’s best for the students. That really impresses me.”
Gail Follett, Ryan’s homebound teacher, said although there were significant problems when Ryan attended Johnson, he hasn’t been a problem in the homebound setting.
“He’s very attentive,” she said. “He wants to learn a lot. He is extremely cooperative and willing. He is a joy to work with and never caused a moment of trouble or stress at all. He’s a teacher’s dream student, at least with me in homebound.”
She also said he is the type of child that really benefits from the one on one setting and given his developmental problems, could have difficulties functioning in a classroom with quite a few kids.
Though his parents are seeing improvement, they are still set on bringing about some kind of change within the school and the district.
“Parents need to be aware that they are not alone,” Susan said. “This is not an isolated incident. It’s widespread.”
That’s exactly what Jennifer Taylor, a mother of four discovered after hearing about the Swearingens’ story. Her 10-year-old daughter, Gracie, was diagnosed with epilepsy. The family moved from Utah when Gracie was in second grade. She attended Zach Core Knowledge school. Taylor said the staff restrained Gracie when she was having complex partial seizures even though she repeatedly told them her doctor said this is the worst thing to do.
Last year, the situation had gotten so bad that Taylor considered moving out of Fort Collins. She said she was watching her daughter deteriorate in front of her eyes. She said she just wanted the district to do the right thing.
“She’s a good kid and doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her,” Taylor said. “I’m not saying she’s 100 percent easy. That’s never been my claim, but I’ve also tried to give them ways to deal with things. All we want is for her to have an opportunity to be educated like every other kid—nothing special.”
Like Ryan, Gracie is on a homebound education program, and her placement will be reevaluated for the next school year. After hearing the stories of other families, Taylor also recently filed a complaint with The Legal Center.
“It’s a system that desperately needs some kind of check and balance in place,” Daniel Swearingen said. “One of the greatest motivators for us is seeing justice is righted for our son and other kids.”
The district defends its staff as highly qualified and constantly working collaboratively with parents in the best interest of the students.
“We all have different perceptions that can get in the way,” Richardson said. “We will continue to work with them in the best interest of their child and hope we can collaborate to have a great education for their child.”
Richardson said one thing that is being considered that could strengthen communication with parents is developing some trainings for parents. She said overall, there are good open lines of communication within the special education program.
Still, the Swearingens maintain that more needs to be done.
“Either we are a couple of crackpots, or we are telling the truth,” Daniel said.
Correction: In the first article in this series published April 25, “When Time-Out Goes Too Far,” FCN incorrectly reported that the investigation by the Office of Civil Rights was ongoing. In fact, it had been completed.
http://www.fortcollinsnow.com
Friday, May 2, 2008
Senate passed a bill to address the growing problem of Restraint and Seclusion in Tennessee Public Schools
State legislators take a something-is-better-than-nothing approach to protecting special education students from seclusion and restraint
by Elizabeth Ulrich
May 1, 2008
Disability advocates who have spent more than a year trying to convince Tennessee legislators about the troubling fact that special education students are being physically restrained, strapped to chairs and locked in janitor closets hit a small landmark last week as the state Senate passed a bill to address a growing problem in classrooms across the state.
Designed to limit the unchecked use of physical restraint and isolation, the bill offers only a few modest regulations. But disability advocates see the mere acknowledgment of the problem as “gargantuan,” considering their struggle to get lawmakers even to accept that teachers are using such methods on the most vulnerable of students.
Nearly 40 families across the state recently weighed in with horrific tales of the use of restraint and isolation in public schools in a survey commissioned by the state Disability Coalition on Education (DCE). Perhaps the most heart-wrenching tale was that of an 11-year-old autistic boy whose Williamson County teacher locked him in a dark janitor’s closet for up to three hours at a time on several occasions. The teacher even held him down in restraints for behavior she described as not “as much autistic as...ornery” (“Physical Education,” Jan. 24).
Teachers never told the boy’s family about the incidents. Once the otherwise happy boy began to dread school, and as his behavior escalated into unusual fits of screaming and acting out, the family knew something was up. Unlike many of his counterparts, the boy was eventually able to articulate what had transpired. Holly Lu Conant Rees, the director of DCE, says such stories, coupled with the well-publicized death of Omega Leach, made the danger of the ungoverned use of restraint impossible to ignore. A Philadelphia boy undergoing treatment at Chad Youth Enhancement Center, a Clarksville facility for troubled kids, Leach mysteriously died on the floor of his dorm room, away from the watchful eye of the facility’s surveillance cams. The state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide by strangulation after Chad counselors restrained and roughed him up.
Interestingly, the new Senate bill passed April 24 does little to protect kids such as Leach, perhaps because lawmakers see the children in these facilities as criminals. The bill, however, does establish guidelines for the use of restraint and isolation with special education students so long as they don’t have a rap sheet. Specifically, it prohibits schools from using chemical restraint via shots of sedatives to control violent behavior, noxious substances such as pepper spray, locked seclusion and prone restraint, a controversial hold method that can lead to asphyxia—none of which has been expressly outlawed by the state for disabled youth in private treatment facilities. It also requires schools, for the first time ever, to keep records of these incidents. But at this point, the bill gets a little hazy.
Though Sen. Diane Black, who sponsored the bill, says she and other members of the Senate Select Committee on Children and Youth were moved by testimony from special education parents, the original fiscal note for the bill, which Conant Rees put at a staggering $50 million, was too large to be viable. So training teachers on the proper use of restraint went out the window—along with many other provisions advocates had hoped for—in the quest to get the fiscal note down to $50,000, where it now remains.
But Black says the bill is a good starting point. “This at least brings consistency and does bring something that everybody is going to be using across the state, and that’s really important,” she says.
But is it enough to protect students? Conant Rees says the legislation does not completely ban the use of mechanical restraint. This is troublesome to the activist, who has seen students strapped to chairs with lap and shoulder belts or placed in stationary chairs as a means of classroom crowd control. Some of these contraptions look like a hybrid between a high-end toddler car seat and an electric chair, and at least one Tennessee family has told Conant Rees that their elementary-age child has spent hours on end in one of these chairs because teachers deemed the student “a runner.”
by Elizabeth Ulrich
May 1, 2008
Disability advocates who have spent more than a year trying to convince Tennessee legislators about the troubling fact that special education students are being physically restrained, strapped to chairs and locked in janitor closets hit a small landmark last week as the state Senate passed a bill to address a growing problem in classrooms across the state.
Designed to limit the unchecked use of physical restraint and isolation, the bill offers only a few modest regulations. But disability advocates see the mere acknowledgment of the problem as “gargantuan,” considering their struggle to get lawmakers even to accept that teachers are using such methods on the most vulnerable of students.
Nearly 40 families across the state recently weighed in with horrific tales of the use of restraint and isolation in public schools in a survey commissioned by the state Disability Coalition on Education (DCE). Perhaps the most heart-wrenching tale was that of an 11-year-old autistic boy whose Williamson County teacher locked him in a dark janitor’s closet for up to three hours at a time on several occasions. The teacher even held him down in restraints for behavior she described as not “as much autistic as...ornery” (“Physical Education,” Jan. 24).
Teachers never told the boy’s family about the incidents. Once the otherwise happy boy began to dread school, and as his behavior escalated into unusual fits of screaming and acting out, the family knew something was up. Unlike many of his counterparts, the boy was eventually able to articulate what had transpired. Holly Lu Conant Rees, the director of DCE, says such stories, coupled with the well-publicized death of Omega Leach, made the danger of the ungoverned use of restraint impossible to ignore. A Philadelphia boy undergoing treatment at Chad Youth Enhancement Center, a Clarksville facility for troubled kids, Leach mysteriously died on the floor of his dorm room, away from the watchful eye of the facility’s surveillance cams. The state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide by strangulation after Chad counselors restrained and roughed him up.
Interestingly, the new Senate bill passed April 24 does little to protect kids such as Leach, perhaps because lawmakers see the children in these facilities as criminals. The bill, however, does establish guidelines for the use of restraint and isolation with special education students so long as they don’t have a rap sheet. Specifically, it prohibits schools from using chemical restraint via shots of sedatives to control violent behavior, noxious substances such as pepper spray, locked seclusion and prone restraint, a controversial hold method that can lead to asphyxia—none of which has been expressly outlawed by the state for disabled youth in private treatment facilities. It also requires schools, for the first time ever, to keep records of these incidents. But at this point, the bill gets a little hazy.
Though Sen. Diane Black, who sponsored the bill, says she and other members of the Senate Select Committee on Children and Youth were moved by testimony from special education parents, the original fiscal note for the bill, which Conant Rees put at a staggering $50 million, was too large to be viable. So training teachers on the proper use of restraint went out the window—along with many other provisions advocates had hoped for—in the quest to get the fiscal note down to $50,000, where it now remains.
But Black says the bill is a good starting point. “This at least brings consistency and does bring something that everybody is going to be using across the state, and that’s really important,” she says.
But is it enough to protect students? Conant Rees says the legislation does not completely ban the use of mechanical restraint. This is troublesome to the activist, who has seen students strapped to chairs with lap and shoulder belts or placed in stationary chairs as a means of classroom crowd control. Some of these contraptions look like a hybrid between a high-end toddler car seat and an electric chair, and at least one Tennessee family has told Conant Rees that their elementary-age child has spent hours on end in one of these chairs because teachers deemed the student “a runner.”
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
School District Under Investigation For Restraint And Seclusion Use
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
April 29, 2008
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO--A Fort Collins school district is being investigated by Colorado's protection and advocacy system, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, and the Department of Regulatory Affairs over the use of restraints and seclusion on elementary students with intellectual disabilities.
The Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People released a report earlier this month from its first investigation, in which it found that Werner and Linton elementary schools, both in the Poudre School District, did not properly use, or properly document, instances when students were restrained or placed in "time-out."
In fact, according to Fort Collins Now, the agency found it difficult to make many conclusions about when, how, and why children were restrained or secluded because of the lack of documentation. "It becomes 'he said she said,' or a guessing game," said Thom Miller, Special Education Program Coordinator for The Legal Center.
Interviews with parents led investigators to believe that some students were being restrained more often then needed, were placed in "time-out" for long periods of times, and may have been locked into seclusion rooms and not monitored properly when they were inside.
The report did conclude that teachers used these techniques to punish or discipline students. While the state's education department only allows restraint or seclusion to keep students from hurting themselves or others, the district's policy allowed teachers to use them to maintain discipline.
District officials publicly disagreed with the Legal Center's findings, but said they would work on implementing some of its recommendations.
April 29, 2008
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO--A Fort Collins school district is being investigated by Colorado's protection and advocacy system, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, and the Department of Regulatory Affairs over the use of restraints and seclusion on elementary students with intellectual disabilities.
The Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People released a report earlier this month from its first investigation, in which it found that Werner and Linton elementary schools, both in the Poudre School District, did not properly use, or properly document, instances when students were restrained or placed in "time-out."
In fact, according to Fort Collins Now, the agency found it difficult to make many conclusions about when, how, and why children were restrained or secluded because of the lack of documentation. "It becomes 'he said she said,' or a guessing game," said Thom Miller, Special Education Program Coordinator for The Legal Center.
Interviews with parents led investigators to believe that some students were being restrained more often then needed, were placed in "time-out" for long periods of times, and may have been locked into seclusion rooms and not monitored properly when they were inside.
The report did conclude that teachers used these techniques to punish or discipline students. While the state's education department only allows restraint or seclusion to keep students from hurting themselves or others, the district's policy allowed teachers to use them to maintain discipline.
District officials publicly disagreed with the Legal Center's findings, but said they would work on implementing some of its recommendations.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Teen Says Teacher Threw Him to the Floor
March 8, 2008
By NATALIA MIELCZAREK
Staff Writer
The Tennessean.com
The parents of a 14-year-old boy say he sustained face injuries, including carpet burns and swelling, after his teacher threw him to the floor Wednesday morning.
Donovan Marshall has attended Genesis Academy in Nashville since July, said his mother, Angelique Harris. The 24-year-old private school works with students who have emotional, mental and behavioral issues.
The school's executive direc tor, Terry Adams, declined to comment on the particulars of the case, citing privacy laws. He said the school investigates all incidents.
"I don't think anything was done deliberately, and I certainly think that the employee in this position feels incredible remorse (and) is very dedicated to kids," Adams said. "We're taking very strict disciplinary actions. We don't take it lightly whenever there's a parent complaint."
Adams declined to elaborate on what disciplinary actions have been taken toward the teacher, known only as "Mr. Bolton" because of privacy laws. Harris did not know the teacher's first name.
Adams confirmed Bolton is still employed at the school, and said school officials will meet with the family Monday.
Police report filed
Donovan has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder, his mother said. Bolton told the boy Wednesday morning to go to seclusion because he paced, which is a way for him to relieve stress, Harris said. Bolton allegedly threw him to the floor when he wouldn't go.
"I don't know if Donovan pulled away from him, but he didn't put up a fight," Harris said. "Donovan doesn't lie; if he did something wrong he would have said it. … I want that teacher to not be able to work with kids."
Harris filed a police report after her son got home. Metro police's youth services division is investigating the case, said Kristin Mumford, police spokeswoman. Investigators will interview Bolton at the school. He hasn't been charged with any crime, she said.
By NATALIA MIELCZAREK
Staff Writer
The Tennessean.com
The parents of a 14-year-old boy say he sustained face injuries, including carpet burns and swelling, after his teacher threw him to the floor Wednesday morning.
Donovan Marshall has attended Genesis Academy in Nashville since July, said his mother, Angelique Harris. The 24-year-old private school works with students who have emotional, mental and behavioral issues.
The school's executive direc tor, Terry Adams, declined to comment on the particulars of the case, citing privacy laws. He said the school investigates all incidents.
"I don't think anything was done deliberately, and I certainly think that the employee in this position feels incredible remorse (and) is very dedicated to kids," Adams said. "We're taking very strict disciplinary actions. We don't take it lightly whenever there's a parent complaint."
Adams declined to elaborate on what disciplinary actions have been taken toward the teacher, known only as "Mr. Bolton" because of privacy laws. Harris did not know the teacher's first name.
Adams confirmed Bolton is still employed at the school, and said school officials will meet with the family Monday.
Police report filed
Donovan has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder, his mother said. Bolton told the boy Wednesday morning to go to seclusion because he paced, which is a way for him to relieve stress, Harris said. Bolton allegedly threw him to the floor when he wouldn't go.
"I don't know if Donovan pulled away from him, but he didn't put up a fight," Harris said. "Donovan doesn't lie; if he did something wrong he would have said it. … I want that teacher to not be able to work with kids."
Harris filed a police report after her son got home. Metro police's youth services division is investigating the case, said Kristin Mumford, police spokeswoman. Investigators will interview Bolton at the school. He hasn't been charged with any crime, she said.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Physical Education
When special-ed teachers seclude and restrain students, the state says no one needs to know
by Elizabeth Ulrich
Nashville Scene.com
January 24, 2008
Rob Zimmerman’s son Jack is the kind of smart, happy child who loved school. But two years ago, Jack’s dad says, that suddenly changed. When the now 11-year-old moved to another special-ed classroom at his Williamson County school, Zimmerman says Jack’s new teacher did not believe he was “as much autistic as he was ornery.”
The teacher told the family that Jack was “trying to trick her.” Jack’s behavior changed, as he began to dread school and act out—screaming and spiraling out of control.
Zimmerman and his wife were shocked to learn why: Jack’s teachers had taken him down the hall to a janitor’s closet, placed him inside and shut the door, leaving the boy to sit alone in the dark for up to three hours at a time on more than one occasion. “They said he liked it better when it was dark,” an animated Zimmerman told a group of state lawmakers Tuesday. “We’re talking about human life—my son’s life,” Zimmerman said.
And it wasn’t long before Jack told his parents that his teachers were also “umphing him,” describing the groaning sound his teachers made as they held him down for “ornery” behavior. In his own way, Jack alerted his parents to a growing problem in special-ed classrooms all over the state: the unreported, undocumented use of seclusion and restraint.
Jack’s case is rare in the sense that he was able to tell his parents he had been restrained and stuffed into a closet that his father says school employees called a “calming room.” Many autistic children are not as verbally developed as Jack and are therefore incapable of reporting abuse.
Often, these are children who, as Zimmerman puts it, are “set up for abuse.”
After reports like Zimmerman’s began to trickle in, the Disability Coalition on Education (DCE), a statewide organization of educators, advocacy groups and families, reviewed state law and found that there are no guidelines to regulate how—or if—schools should report such incidents or document how often they occur.
To push state lawmakers to draft legislation to require such oversight, representatives from several advocacy organizations for the disabled and mentally ill met Tuesday with a House-Senate study committee. They discussed the methods of restraint and seclusion now used with Tennessee special-ed students.
The committee also heard a tearful Gary Hassell talk about his son, a special-education student with autism at Oakmont Elementary in Dickson County, who had been physically restrained, face-down, on the classroom floor. School employees held his son down for an hour in what is called the “prone” position, a controversial hold that some experts say can result in asphyxia in as few as six minutes.
Similar methods of seclusion and restraint have led to the deaths of two teens at Chad Youth Enhancement Center, a residential treatment facility for troubled youth just outside of Clarksville (“Handle With Care,” Nov. 8) and have been key components in claims of abuse and neglect at Hermitage Hall, a Nashville private residential facility that treats male sex offenders (“Bad Medicine,” Dec. 13).
State records for Chad and Hermitage Hall, both of which are licensed by the state’s Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (DMHDD), describe hundreds of cases where young residents are physically restrained, often violently, by facility staff. Neither DMHDD nor the Department of Children’s Services finds anything out of the ordinary or troubling about these incidences, according to interviews with officials there, and Gov. Phil Bredesen’s office also has been unswayed by reports of abuses at these juvenile facilities, directing questions back to the departments.
But Tennessee public schools are not required to report incidents of seclusion and restraint to the state—or even to parents such as Zimmerman. Carol Westlake, the executive director of the Tennessee Disability Coalition, told the study committee that, while state law requires in-patient facilities and residential juvenile programs to report how often such incidents occur, public schools remain one of the only places in the state without that mandate.
And, while facilities such as Chad and Hermitage Hall purport to have stringent requirements for teaching workers how to properly administer restraint holds, schools are not legally required to train employees.
DCE Chair Holly Lu Conant Rees says her organization has repeatedly requested a copy of the Metro schools’ policy on seclusion and restraint but has received nothing.
Conant Rees tells the Scene that her organization has started to collect data from parents across the state to push state lawmakers to draft legislation.
Thirty families, several of whom have students in Metro public schools, completed a DCE survey saying that their children have experienced multiple incidents of restraint and seclusion in the classroom. DCE describes the findings as “uniformly disturbing.”
Of those families reporting incidents to DCE, 40 percent said school staffers injured their children, who showed signs of bruising, contusions, abrasions and nail and grip marks. And 60 percent of families reported that their children experienced significant psychological and behavioral setbacks after being restrained or secluded. The children had acted out with violent tantrums and experienced anxiety, night terrors and psychosis.
It’s a familiar story to parents like Zimmerman, who says it only takes one encounter with a “bad apple” in the special-education classroom to change a child’s life forever. “If you don’t have documentation, you don’t have accountability.”
by Elizabeth Ulrich
Nashville Scene.com
January 24, 2008
Rob Zimmerman’s son Jack is the kind of smart, happy child who loved school. But two years ago, Jack’s dad says, that suddenly changed. When the now 11-year-old moved to another special-ed classroom at his Williamson County school, Zimmerman says Jack’s new teacher did not believe he was “as much autistic as he was ornery.”
The teacher told the family that Jack was “trying to trick her.” Jack’s behavior changed, as he began to dread school and act out—screaming and spiraling out of control.
Zimmerman and his wife were shocked to learn why: Jack’s teachers had taken him down the hall to a janitor’s closet, placed him inside and shut the door, leaving the boy to sit alone in the dark for up to three hours at a time on more than one occasion. “They said he liked it better when it was dark,” an animated Zimmerman told a group of state lawmakers Tuesday. “We’re talking about human life—my son’s life,” Zimmerman said.
And it wasn’t long before Jack told his parents that his teachers were also “umphing him,” describing the groaning sound his teachers made as they held him down for “ornery” behavior. In his own way, Jack alerted his parents to a growing problem in special-ed classrooms all over the state: the unreported, undocumented use of seclusion and restraint.
Jack’s case is rare in the sense that he was able to tell his parents he had been restrained and stuffed into a closet that his father says school employees called a “calming room.” Many autistic children are not as verbally developed as Jack and are therefore incapable of reporting abuse.
Often, these are children who, as Zimmerman puts it, are “set up for abuse.”
After reports like Zimmerman’s began to trickle in, the Disability Coalition on Education (DCE), a statewide organization of educators, advocacy groups and families, reviewed state law and found that there are no guidelines to regulate how—or if—schools should report such incidents or document how often they occur.
To push state lawmakers to draft legislation to require such oversight, representatives from several advocacy organizations for the disabled and mentally ill met Tuesday with a House-Senate study committee. They discussed the methods of restraint and seclusion now used with Tennessee special-ed students.
The committee also heard a tearful Gary Hassell talk about his son, a special-education student with autism at Oakmont Elementary in Dickson County, who had been physically restrained, face-down, on the classroom floor. School employees held his son down for an hour in what is called the “prone” position, a controversial hold that some experts say can result in asphyxia in as few as six minutes.
Similar methods of seclusion and restraint have led to the deaths of two teens at Chad Youth Enhancement Center, a residential treatment facility for troubled youth just outside of Clarksville (“Handle With Care,” Nov. 8) and have been key components in claims of abuse and neglect at Hermitage Hall, a Nashville private residential facility that treats male sex offenders (“Bad Medicine,” Dec. 13).
State records for Chad and Hermitage Hall, both of which are licensed by the state’s Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (DMHDD), describe hundreds of cases where young residents are physically restrained, often violently, by facility staff. Neither DMHDD nor the Department of Children’s Services finds anything out of the ordinary or troubling about these incidences, according to interviews with officials there, and Gov. Phil Bredesen’s office also has been unswayed by reports of abuses at these juvenile facilities, directing questions back to the departments.
But Tennessee public schools are not required to report incidents of seclusion and restraint to the state—or even to parents such as Zimmerman. Carol Westlake, the executive director of the Tennessee Disability Coalition, told the study committee that, while state law requires in-patient facilities and residential juvenile programs to report how often such incidents occur, public schools remain one of the only places in the state without that mandate.
And, while facilities such as Chad and Hermitage Hall purport to have stringent requirements for teaching workers how to properly administer restraint holds, schools are not legally required to train employees.
DCE Chair Holly Lu Conant Rees says her organization has repeatedly requested a copy of the Metro schools’ policy on seclusion and restraint but has received nothing.
Conant Rees tells the Scene that her organization has started to collect data from parents across the state to push state lawmakers to draft legislation.
Thirty families, several of whom have students in Metro public schools, completed a DCE survey saying that their children have experienced multiple incidents of restraint and seclusion in the classroom. DCE describes the findings as “uniformly disturbing.”
Of those families reporting incidents to DCE, 40 percent said school staffers injured their children, who showed signs of bruising, contusions, abrasions and nail and grip marks. And 60 percent of families reported that their children experienced significant psychological and behavioral setbacks after being restrained or secluded. The children had acted out with violent tantrums and experienced anxiety, night terrors and psychosis.
It’s a familiar story to parents like Zimmerman, who says it only takes one encounter with a “bad apple” in the special-education classroom to change a child’s life forever. “If you don’t have documentation, you don’t have accountability.”
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