CT: Autistic children’s attorney pushing forward suit against Darien

Written by Susan Shultz
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12627:autistic-childrens-attorney-pushing-forward-suit-against-darien&catid=1:darien-local-news&Itemid=57

The attorney representing four autistic children who alleges they were abused during the 2003-04 school year in the Darien School District is asking a judge to deny the school’s attempt to dismiss the case.

Attorney Mark Sherman filed a motion earlier this fall asking the judge to allow the case to go to trial despite an attempt by defendants (including the Board of Education and the Town of Darien) to have the case dismissed.

Sherman said that the case is “rooted in the negligent supervision of the Early Learning Program at Hindley “ and he has taken two years of depositions from 20 witnesses to support that.

He said defendant Karen Wilson, who was in charge of the classroom, was overwhelmed in administrative work and had teachers’ aides in charge who were not certified and had no experience.

Sherman said the aides, Johanna Galiatsos and Kim Granite, were fired but only after his clients suffered six months of abuse.

Examples of abuse by the aides in Sherman’s motion include slapping of the children’s hands, slamming them in a chair, pushing them down, and verbally abusing them by telling them to “stop being a baby.”

At the time, three of the children were three years old, and one was four.

In his motion, Sherman says the school system is “replete with dysfunctional polices, procedures and personnel.”

He cites that the defendants showed “flagrant disregard” of concerns, downplayed abuse teaching practices, and accuses them of “negligently hiring, training and supervising educational aides” to work with the children.

Sherman says in his motion that Wilson was impressed with Galiatsos’ ability to train her dog, “so much so that she thought those skills would be a great fit for a special needs classroom.”

“My clients were treated worse than dogs and it’s time this school system be held accountable,” he said in an e-mail to The Darien Times.

Other abuses alleged in Sherman’s motion include the aides taking turns “growling” at one of the children until the child was brought to tears, then “laughing about it” and bragging about being able to make the child cry, “routinely getting loud” with the children and telling them to “shut up.”

Sherman says that a high-ranking union official admitted she helped the board investigate the abuse and then shredded the notes.

“Clearly there was a cover-up going on in this investigation, and with victims who are nonverbal, autistic preschoolers, it made it all the more easier to execute,” he said.

Sherman said the judge will make a decision on whether or not to dismiss the case over the next few months.

“The town continues to abuse my clients and their families by refusing to accept responsibility and making my clients suffer through the additional humiliation and embarrassment of a trial,” he said.

Schools Superintendent Donald Fiftal and Board of Education Chairman John Boulton declined comment, saying they do not comment on pending litigation.

In 2007, the school district prevailed on a due process hearing regarding the use of a padded room at Ox Ridge Elementary School. Special education parents were seeking tuition from the district for their autistic son to attend a private school after the mother said the child was placed in the room inappropriately.