It happened over there but it could never happen here, right?
from the Shaffer Report
http://www.oweb.com/state/story/0730202005_staWV—SchoolSettlement-M0039.asp
Family wins $460,000 autism lawsuit against Hampshire Co. schools
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A Hampshire County mother whose autistic daughter was restrained at preschool in a device that resembled “a miniature electric chair” has won a $460,000 verdict against the school system.
Cynthia Kilmer of Augusta filed the lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court in 2000 on behalf of her daughter, Christina, who was 4 years old in 1998 when she was injured at Romney Elementary School.
Kilmer said her daughter came home from school with bruises on her calves, chest, wrists and legs and experienced intense behavior changes and wet her pants at the mention of the word teacher or school. She also began having uncontrollable tantrums and sleeplessness. A doctor later diagnosed post traumatic stress syndrome.
The problems started after the child was restrained in a wooden chair with a high back and leather straps and buckles across the chest, arms, wrists, legs and ankles, similar to those once used in mental institutions.
“I’ll never forget the day I saw that chair and knew I sent my daughter to a torture chamber every day,” Kilmer said Friday. “I have a lot of guilt because I sent my baby to school and trusted these people. Her behavior kept changing and I knew something was not right that was above and beyond autism.
“The school said she was going through an adjustment. Then they said it was the home environment because I’m a lesbian.”
A jury in June found the Hampshire County Board of Education negligently trained and supervised teacher Delores Delawder, aide Loretta Hott and speech therapist Pam Skiff. The jury awarded Christina Kilmer $400,000 for mental pain and suffering and $60,000 in lost wages to Cynthia Kilmer. The award is one of the largest in Kanawha County this year.
“We won but in a sense we didn’t win because the teachers where not held responsible,” Kilmer said. “They morally and ethically knew what they did was wrong. You don’t strap a child in a chair because she won’t sit still.”
The lawsuit also named former superintendent Gerald Mathias, former Romney Elementary School Principal Stephen Keener, director of special education Paula O’Brien, former state superintendent Hank Marockie and state coordinator Sandra McQuain. All five were later dropped as defendants, according to court documents.
O’Brien, who is now Hampshire County’s acting superintendent, said Friday she could not comment on the verdict but there likely would be an appeal. She referred questions to the board’s attorney, Jan Fox, who did not immediately return a telephone message Friday seeking comment.
The jury’s decision mirrors a $339,000 verdict awarded in 1999 in Kanawha County Circuit Court to Ron and Kathy Spaulding, whose autistic son was strapped to his chair by teachers at Williamson Elementary and later at Lenore Elementary from 1991 until 1993.
Charleston lawyers Mary Downey and Beverly Selby represented both families in court.
Kilmer’s award also matches a $460,000 settlement Anne Gentry reached with the Kanawha County School Board in April 2004, for her 16-year-old autistic son, Logan. He attended Sissonville High School until behavior and other problems surfaced after students goaded him into licking bird droppings off a car window.
Autism is a neurological spectrum disorder that affects social interaction and communication. Its symptoms and characteristics vary from mild to severe.
Christina was home-schooled until last year when she told her mother one day she wanted to go to school with her twin brother, Charlie, who attended Augusta Elementary.
“Augusta Elementary has been wonderful,” Kilmer said. “Her worse day today is not nearly as bad as an easy day was seven years ago.”
Still, Kilmer worries about regression this fall when Christina is expected to move to Romney Middle School. She also worries that without written policies, other children will be harmed.
Neither the state Board of Education nor the Hampshire County Board of Education has adopted a policy governing the use of restraints despite the large verdicts and settlement.
“More parents need to be aware of what’s going on with their children,” Kilmer said. “Don’t always listen to the teacher if your gut tells you something isn’t right. This has got to stop. Restraining children is not right.”
About Umpti-Um years ago I was taking CHild Psych for fun while I was getting that Bachelor’s in Wildlife & Fisheries, and I got my “volunteer hours” in, I believe, that school. *That* teacher would never have done that (we had several kiddos in there who didn’t sit still, etc).
I remember her breaking out the guitar and singing a hymn … when I joined in, a 5 year old with Down SYndrome wanted to know why I knew the same songs she did (it was a fairly recent Catholic hymn not in the general repertoire… but how did he know that???) … I still have that guitar, ‘cause I bought it from her :-) and I **hope** that 5-year-old was given a chance to be seen past his “disability.”
But, in a way, W. Va. is “over there” (heck, if you were caught singing Catholic hymns in a PG County School you’d have that guitar removed…)