VIDEO: Investigation into Death of Disabled Adult in Philadelphia Facility

NBC Philadelphia - Lu Ann Cahn & Ed Dress

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/station/shows/wcau/investigators/Investigation__Protecting_Disabled_Adults_Philadelphia.html

Greg Harlen lived in a local care center for mentally and physically disabled adults for 44 years. Last spring, he was taken to the hospital in such bad shape, doctors called the police. Several days later, he died. Who's being held accountable and what was so suspicious about his death? Lu Ann Cahn and the NBC10 Investigators tell us more about Greg's case and what could be done to protect other disabled adults.

VIDEO: Colorado - Six-Year-Old Sent to Principal's Office Gets Mouth Taped Shut

October 28, 2009

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/28/crimesider/entry5272062.shtml

Watch CBS News Videos Online

DENVER (CBS4) Denver school administrators say the district plans to fire a staffer accused of duct taping a student's mouth and wrists.

Jennifer Carter, 45, was arrested on Monday on charges of misdemeanor child abuse and false imprisonment.

Palmer Elementary first grader, Joshua, was allegedly duct taped by Carter on Wednesday after being sent to the principal's office.

Joshua,6, told CBS Affiliate CBS4 he was sent to the principal's office on Wednesday when a substitute teacher said he was disrupting his first grade class.

"The secretary taped my mouth shut and taped my wrists together," he said, referring to the principal's secretary.

The principal, Elizabeth Trujillo, sent a letter home with all students on Thursday. It stated the Denver Public Schools and Denver police would "... investigate any allegation of misconduct" and that "... be assured the safety of students is a top priority."

Ashlye Tenner, Joshua's mom, said the principal is acting as a witness.

"She said she came back from lunch duty, saw the tape on his face and told the secretary to take it off and not to do it again. And she said she apologized to my son," said Tenner.

Late Monday evening, Denver Public Schools released this statement:

"Based on the evidence confirmed at this stage, the district is taking action to immediately terminate the employee. This is a deeply troubling incident, and this type of conduct is completely reprehensible and inexcusable."

Joshua has not been back in school, and his mom plans to enroll him in a new school.

A jail official said a bond amount for Carter had not been set, according to the Associated Press.

PA: High court tosses ‘kids for cash’ convictions

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed thousands of juvenile convictions issued by a judge charged in a corruption scandal, saying that none of the young offenders got a fair hearing.

The high court on Thursday threw out more than five years' worth of juvenile cases heard by former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella, who is charged with accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks to send youths to private detention centers.

The Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which represents some of the youths, said the court's order covers as many as 6,500 cases. The justices barred any possibility of retrial in all but a fraction of them.

"This is exactly the relief these kids needed," said Marsha Levick, the center's legal director. "It's the most serious judicial corruption scandal in our history and the court took an extraordinary step in addressing it."

Children appeared without lawyers

Children routinely appeared in front of Ciavarella without lawyers for hearings that lasted only a few minutes. Ciavarella also failed to question young defendants to make sure they fully understood the consequences of waiving counsel and pleading guilty, showing "complete disregard for the constitutional rights of the juveniles," the Supreme Court said.

After being found delinquent, the youths were often shackled and taken to private jails whose owner was paying bribes to the judge. Federal prosecutors have said that Ciavarella and another Luzerne County judge, Michael Conahan, took a total of $2.8 million in payoffs.

"Ciavarella's admission that he received these payments, and that he failed to disclose his financial interests arising from the development of the juvenile facilities, thoroughly undermines the integrity of all juvenile proceedings before Ciavarella," the Supreme Court said.

The judges pleaded guilty in February to honest services fraud and tax evasion in a deal with prosecutors that called for a sentence of 87 months in prison. But the deal was rejected in August by Senior U.S. District Judge Edward M. Kosik, who said the two hadn't fully accepted responsibility for the crimes, and the ex-judges switched their pleas to not guilty.

A federal grand jury then returned a 48-count racketeeringindictment against the judges, who await trial.

The Supreme Court had previously overturned hundreds of juvenile convictions involving low-level offenses. Thursday's ruling covered all cases heard by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, including ones involving more serious crimes.

"We fully agree that, given the nature and extent of the taint, this Court simply cannot have confidence that any juvenile matter adjudicated by Ciavarella during this period was tried in a fair and impartial manner," the court wrote.

Prosecutors in Luzerne County had agreed that none of the convictions should stand, but they wanted the right to bring dangerous offenders back into court for retrials.

The court said the district attorney's office may seek to retry youths who remain under court supervision — a group that Levick said likely numbers fewer than 100. And those youths may challenge any attempt to retry them on double-jeopardy grounds, the court said.

Ex-judges seek immunity

Berks County Senior Judge Arthur Grim, whom the justices appointed in February to review cases handled by Ciavarella, will consider any retrial requests made by the DA's office and forward his recommendations to the high court.

Meanwhile, the two ex-judges have asked to be dismissed as defendants in a series of civil lawsuits filed in the wake of the juvenile justice scandal.

Ciavarella and former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan already face criminal charges.

Now, they're seeking judicial immunity from civil lawsuits filed on behalf of hundreds of youths they sentenced.

A federal judge in Wilkes-Barre heard arguments on Wednesday but did not immediately issue a decision.

Immunity is designed to give judges freedom to rule without fear of legal retribution. But plaintiffs' attorneys say the judges' conduct went beyond the scope of normal court business.

IA: Davenport School Board OKs special education plan

Kurt Allemeier | Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:00 am

http://www.qctimes.com/news/local/education/article_2fd78178-c2b6-11de-bda0-001cc4c03286.html

The Davenport School Board approved a state-required special education delivery plan Monday to the disappointment of one member who said it was a missed opportunity.

The board approved the plan 6-1, with Timothy Tupper voting against it.

"We had a real opportunity with this document to really look at our process and procedures, and we didn't do that," Tupper said during discussion of the plan. "I hoped we would look at our delivery of services to see how we (could) do it better."

The plan moves the district away from teaching special needs students in seclusion. Instead, general education teachers will work with special education students in a regular classroom setting. The special education service delivery plan, recently required by the Iowa Department of Education, defines how schools meet the educational needs of students.

About 30 teachers were involved in the delivery plan and public input was sought, Betty Long, director of exceptional education and federal programming, told the board. Most public input was received via e-mail.

A comprehensive audit of special education and support services in the district is currently being done, with a report from an outside agency expected in January, Long said.

The special education proposal helps position the district to meet state requirements that 75 percent of special education students spend at least 80 percent of the school day in a general education classroom by the end of 2010-11.

The delivery plan was approved two days before a state-extended deadline set after the district failed to approve a plan by Sept. 15.

The board was comfortable with the plan, although some concerns were expressed that putting additional students in general education classrooms could strain teachers and increase class sizes.

In addition to integrating students into regular classrooms, Davenport's plan also defines the number of students assigned to each special education teacher, based on several criteria.

Areas considered include the amount of support students need, their individualized goals and whether a student needs a teacher's aide, specially designed instruction or assistive technology, as well as the amount of collaboration and planning needed between general and special education teachers.

UT: Ex-Marine recruiter waives preliminary hearing in sex-abuse case

By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 10/27/2009 05:10:47 PM MDT

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13651415

A former U.S. Marine Corps recruiter charged with 14 felonies in connection with an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old female Olympus High School student on Tuesday waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Trevor Adam Hooper, 26, is charged with one count each of first-degree felony counts of rape and forcible sodomy, 11 counts of second-degree felony sex exploitation of a minor and one second-degree felony count of forcible sexual abuse.

A scheduling hearing for Hooper was set for Nov. 16 before 3rd District Judge Randall Skanchy.

Prosecutors said they elevated the charges against Hooper because he occupied a position of special trust in relation to the girl.

The two allegedly met when Hooper, an Iraq War veteran who lives in Clearfield, was recruiting at Olympus High, one of four high schools where he was assigned.

During April, Hooper picked up the girl and drove her to a motel, where Hooper videotaped and photographed their sexual activity, according to charging documents.

An investigation began in May when the girl's father caught her sneaking back into their home early one morning and subsequently found photos depicting sexual activity on her camera, according to the probable cause statement.

Hooper -- who has voluntarily separated from the military -- could face up to life in prison, if convicted of the first-degree felonies.

shunt@sltrib.com

UT: West Jordan teaching aide faces sex abuse charges

Written by: Dan Metcalf Jr.
Email: dan.metcalf@abc4.com
Contributor: Annie Cutler
Last Update: 10/28 8:51 am

http://www.abc4.com/mostpopular/story/West-Jordan-teaching-aide-faces-sex-abuse-charges/6i5sP677zUuzIFvLqOPtfg.cspx

WEST JORDAN, Utah (ABC 4 News) - A former West Jordan Middle School teaching aide faces sex abuse charges after she was arrested on suspicion of having sexual relations with two 15-year-old male students.

31-year-old Andrea Billingsley was arrested on Tuesday and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail, suspected of 2 counts of felony sodomy, 3 counts of sexual abuse and 2 counts distribution of harmful materials to minors.

A probable cause statement says Billingsley, who, as a teacher for students with behavioral issues at the middle school picked the boys up and took them to a secluded location where she showed them explicit materials and engaged in sexual acts with them. The incident occurred sometime near July 20, 2009.

Police investigators say they acted on tip from other students who heard about the incident from the victims themselves.

Jordan School District officials say Billingsley passed a background check without any criminal history when she was hired in August of 2008.

Her position was eliminated due to lack of district funds in May of 2009.

District officials say they did not know of the investigation until Tuesday.

MS: Student files suit over paddling; 2nd such suit against Leflore County Schools

October 23, 2009

http://www.sunherald.com/185/story/1694972.html

GREENWOOD, Miss. -- A school district in Leflore County has been hit with a lawsuit from a student alleging injuries from a paddling.

An 11-year-old is seeking $500,000 from the Greenwood Public School District in a suit filed in Leflore County Circuit Court.

The child's attorney said photographs show deep bruising on the then-10-year-old's buttocks and that he also suffered possible kidney damage.

Phone calls by The Greenwood Commonwealth for comment to Superintendent Margie Pulley and the schools' attorney, Richard Oakes, were not returned.

Last month, the guardian of a 6-year-old kindergartner filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the Leflore County School District for alleged paddlings.

Information from: The Greenwood Commonwealth, http://www.gwcommonwealth.com

Canada: Parents don’t want confinement for troubled kids

Bad behaviour must be dealt with, but tiny ‘safe rooms’ are not the answer, they say

BY KIM PEMBERTON, VANCOUVER SUNOCTOBER 26, 2009

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Parents+want+confinement+troubled+kids/2148144/story.html

VANCOUVER - Parents of children with behavioural difficulties in school agree there needs to be a plan in place for them so other students are not disrupted but disagree in the use of “time-out” or “safe” rooms.

The Vancouver Sun learned three Vancouver elementary schools — Renfrew elementary, Waverley elementary and John Norquay elementary — are using the rooms for students in special “district” classes, which are for students with behavioural challenges, and the parents of four individual students in regular classrooms have given the schools permission to put their children in “safe rooms” as a last resort strategy. There’s also an interagency facility in Vancouver, called Alderwood Family Development Centre, where 16 elementary-school-aged children can be placed in a 10-foot-by-10-foot room whenever their behaviours are deemed unsafe.

The rooms came to light after a child advocate alerted the Vancouver school district that a six-year-old foster child, who came from an abusive background, was regularly being locked in a room described as a 3-foot-by-3-foot “closet” while attending Renfrew elementary school last year.

The Sun also learned that one elementary student last year in Vancouver was kicked out of school under a “medical exclusion” because of unsafe behaviour, three students were given “medical exclusions” in 2007 and one in 2006.

One child who was medically excluded in 2007 while a kindergarten student at Tecumseh elementary school, was seven-year-old Emery Green. Now a Grade 2 student there, Emery spent his kindergarten year back at pre-school and his Grade 1 year at Alderwood facility. While at Alderwood, Emery’s father, Chris Green, gave permission for his son to be physically taken to the centre’s “blue” room when he was considered a danger to himself or others. This happened once or twice, Green says, while Emery was in Alderwood.

“Our kids, if they get over-stimulated, will start acting out. He’d melt down and run around and knock kids over. So when a child is being a danger like that this [the time out room] is an option for the kids to calm down,” says Green, who adds at the time of Emery’s medical exclusion from school it was believed he had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Green says before Emery was forced to leave Tecumseh elementary under the “medical exclusion” he was getting called to pick up his son from school daily, sometimes as early as half-an hour after dropping him off.

“I was bringing him to work. It wasn’t ideal for him or me. I got lucky they [his workplace] were willing to let me do that,” says Green, who adds he appreciated the year Emery spent at Alderwood because they were able to handle any disruptive behaviour without him being called to pick up his son.

“I wouldn’t recommend a 3-by-3-foot room, but there has to be something set up when the child gets out of line,” he says. “Would you rather wait until the child is 18 and the little room is in Matsqui [Institution]? ”

Now that Emery is in Grade 2, he has a one-to-one aide and he’s able to leave the regular classroom and take a break whenever he is getting over-stimulated and there are warning signs he might “have a meltdown,” says Green.

But another parent disagrees with “time out” rooms, saying she was upset to learn it was regularly happening to her son when he was a Grade 2 student at an elementary school in New Westminster.

Natasha Mountain says when she discovered her son, Ethan Bushey Mountain, now 12, was being placed in a former custodian “closet,” sometimes for as long as one hour, she immediately withdrew him from the school.

Bushey says her son, who has a brain injury and was at risk for seizures, was being sent to the small windowless room alone where he was not safe should he have had a seizure.

When she reported the matter to the police she was told locking children in a room at schools was not considered a crime. She also complained to the New Westminster school district and learned they not only agreed with the practice but paid $800 for the school to strip a former janitorial closet and convert it into a “safe” room for Ethan. The only thing in the room was a cushion for him to sit on.

Mountain says Ethan wasn’t violent but she did agree “in the school system you don’t want someone yelling” as her son was doing at the time. She says that no longer happens at his new school because there is a positive behavioural plan in place that does not include “time out” or “safe” rooms.

The issue of dealing effectively with troubled students is not black and white and needs to be handled on a case by case basis, says UBC associate professor Laurie Ford, from the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Education School of Psychology.

Ford says placing children in a “time out” or “safe” room should be seen as a last resort.

“Restricting kids and excluding kids doesn’t replace a positive supportive behavioural plan. You want to make sure you have exhausted everything before you go to a punitive model. It’s a very last resort and there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that it is a really effective model,” says Ford.

kpemberton@vancouversun.com

ND: West Fargo School District to change corporal punishment policy

After West Fargo teacher Mavis Tjon was fired, she vowed to seek protection for other teachers.

By: Kelly Smith, INFORUM

October 27, 2009

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/257649/group/News/

After West Fargo teacher Mavis Tjon was fired, she vowed to seek protection for other teachers.

Now, she said, teachers have that protection.

The West Fargo School District is changing its corporal punishment policy to follow state legislation passed because of Tjon’s firing.

“I feel like the job that I started when I said ‘something good can come from this’ is done,” she said Monday. “And I also feel that it really does vindicate me in terms of saying that I was not treated fairly.”

On Monday, West Fargo School Board members reviewed changes to the district’s longstanding policy and expect to approve the revised policy on Nov. 9.

After she was fired in 2006, Tjon argued the district’s policy contained gaps that affected teachers.

She lobbied for a change in state law and several North Dakota legislators took up her case, sponsoring changes in legislation.

In March, the Legislature approved changes that require uniform disciplinary policies across schools and prohibit corporal punishment policies that are stricter than state law. When she was dismissed, Tjon taught in three West Fargo schools.

“There was a lot of support out there,” Tjon said. “I think that verifies what I was saying, that this needed to change.”

The district’s former policy, last revised in 1990, contained four sentences defining corporal punishment as “physical pain inflicted on a student.” The district allowed each school to develop its own disciplinary policies.

The district’s new page-long policy defines corporal punishment as “willful infliction of pain on a student,” and requires identical disciplinary policies, procedures and guidelines across all schools.

“It tries to standardize how we deal with student conduct at a higher level,” said Robin Hill, the district’s human resources director.

Tjon, who taught music for 25 years, was fired for violating the district’s corporal punishment policy after she said she tapped a boy on the head to get his attention.

Now, the 66-year-old said she finds solace in the new district policy.

“I was angry at the very beginning but … I really let go of that,” she said.

She also hopes the changes in policy will ensure teachers are treated more fairly if incidents like hers happen again.

“I wish it hadn’t had to take legislation to change their policies,” she said. “I really hope they’ll be more reasonable in the future.”

WI: Teacher accused of hitting student to appear in court

October 26, 2009

PAUL SLOTH paul.sloth@journaltimes.com | Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 5:15 pm | (41) Comments

http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_a22bebc0-c346-11de-b1be-001cc4c03286.html

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RACINE - A former special education teacher accused of hitting an autistic student will make her initial appearance in court this week, four months after the boy's mother made the allegations.

Rebecca F. Pranghofer, who was terminated by the Racine Unified School District earlier this month, is charged with two counts of violating the state's corporal punishment law for allegedly slapping the 12-year-old during a field trip to Downtown Racine in June.

Pranghofer is not facing criminal charges, according to the Racine County District Attorney's office. The state forfeiture action is a civil matter, like a speeding ticket, according to District Attorney Mike Nieskes.

Any penalty would not include any jail time, Nieskes said, but could include a fine. Pranghofer will appear in court Friday morning.

"The people who appear we sometimes negotiate a resolution with. If they don't show, they're forfeited," Nieskes said.

Unified officials conducted a separate investigation into the allegations and held an internal hearing involving Pranghofer, district and union officials.

The Unified School Board on Oct. 6 officially fired Pranghofer based on the recommendations from the internal hearing, according to a district spokesman.

District officials in June had placed Pranghofer on paid administrative leave from Jerstad-Agerholm Middle School, 3601 LaSalle St., after the student's mother filed charges against her.

Pranghofer had been a special education teacher at the school since 2003. She had worked in the district since 1987, according to district officials.

In addition to autism, the student is mostly non-verbal, can be aggressive and needs a one-on-one assistant. He also struggles with a number of other health issues.

At the time of the alleged incident, his mother filed a police report after meeting with school officials about the allegations.

At the time of the incident, the mother said an assistant teacher in the classroom, one of four teachers who attended the field trip, had called district officials to report that he witnessed the teacher slap the child on the face.

The mother said she heard about the alleged incident from her other son who also attended the school.

State law prohibits any kind of corporal punishment, which, according to the state's definition, includes, but is not limited to, paddling, slapping or prolonged maintenance of physically painful positions when used as a means of discipline.

In August, the state Department of Public Instruction launched an investigation into the status of Pranghofer's teaching license, according to an agency spokesman.

The investigation is ongoing and could result in the state revoking Pranghofer's teaching license.

CO: Boy With Cerebral Palsy Says He Was Bullied, Tied To Fence

ellow Students Post Attacks On Facebook

By Jane Slater, 7NEWS Reporter

POSTED: 5:46 pm MDT October 27, 2009

UPDATED: 9:34 pm MDT October 27, 2009

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/21443861/detail.html

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Kevin Kaneta, 15, said walking is hard enough but school is a nightmare.

Kaneta, who was born with cerebral palsy, said he has been the target of bullying since third grade and each year, it gets worse. When asked, "Why?" Kaneta said it had to do with his disability.

"They go after me because they see me as a vulnerable target," said Kaneta.

Kaneta walks slower than most kids and tends to drag his feet because his brain is working overtime to tell his legs what to do. His mother, Tyleen Wilson, said the attacks and bullying were so bad she feared for his safety every time he went to school.

"I worry if he'll come home today ... What if they really hurt him?" said Wilson.

Wilson said the kids trip her son, pin him down and pour dog food in his mouth and kick him between the legs. But the latest incident enraged her.

Kaneta, a ninth grader, had his Facebook page up and she noticed a picture where his hooded sweatshirt was tied tightly, up around his face.

"I thought it was a joke. Then he told me the story," said Wilson.

Kaneta said his classmates tied the sweatshirt tightly around his face and forced him to walk around the playground. Kaneta said kids then ganged up on him and ripped the sweatshirt off, which cut his eyelids.

Another picture that a classmate tagged on Facebook showed Kaneta up against the playground fence.

"They tied both arms of my sweatshirt to the fence post. They zipped up my jacket and just watched me struggle to get out," said Kaneta.

Wilson said she is furious with Liberty Commons Charter School for not doing anything to protect her son.

"They said they have a zero tolerance policy," said Wilson.

The school's headmaster, Russ Spicer, sat down with 7NEWS but would not comment on the incident or allegations of rampant bullying.

Wilson said she was removing Kaneta from the classroom. She said it's unfair but the only way to keep him safe.

"He's not going back. I won't put him through that anymore. He has a right to a decent life, just like everyone else," said Wilson.

The father of the boy who posted the Facebook photos told 7NEWS he would have his son remove it but said he had not heard anything from the school about it.

CA: Lawsuit alleges molestation at Martinez after-school program

By Lisa P. White
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 10/28/2009 03:25:48 PM PDT

Updated: 10/28/2009 03:25:48 PM PDT

http://www.contracostatimes.com/crime-courts/ci_13662089?nclick_check=1

MARTINEZ — A former Martinez resident has sued the school district, alleging her son was sexually molested at an after-school program on the John Swett Elementary School campus.

The abuse is said to have taken place in November or December 2007 in a restroom at the school when the victim, who was then 5, was attending Woodbridge Children's Center, according to a lawsuit filed last month in Contra Costa County Superior Court. The Martinez Unified School District and Woodbridge Children's Center are named as defendants.

This newspaper is not naming the woman to protect the identity of the alleged victim.

In February, the school district denied the woman's December 2008 application to present a late claim, according to a letter from Superintendent Rami Muth. In August, Superior Court Judge Judith Craddick granted the woman's petition to present the claim.

"We were under the impression that the lawsuit had been resolved," Muth said Wednesday. She declined further comment.

According to the suit, the child was enrolled in kindergarten at John Swett and attending Woodbridge after school when he was sexually molested, perhaps on multiple occasions, by three older students.

The mother became aware of the abuse in late December 2007 and reported it to John Swett Principal Marj Pampe and former district Superintendent John Triolo the following January, according to the lawsuit. The suit claims the district did not develop a plan to protect the boy and refused to follow the mother's plan; "as a result (the boy) continued to suffer serious psychological injury through repeated contact with the molesters and abusers," the suit says.

About a year after the alleged abuse occurred, a therapist concluded the boy was displaying behavior consistent with a child sexual abuse victim.

"We certainly have evidence that some inappropriate activity occurred in this after-school program and this boy ends up having to go through counseling and change schools," said Walnut Creek attorney Jay Chafetz, who took over the woman's case this month. "It's a parent's worst nightmare."

The lawsuit states that the school district should not have allowed children of different ages at the Woodbridge Children's Center to use isolated restrooms, given previous complaints about inappropriate behavior between older and younger children. Chafetz would not elaborate on the nature of the earlier complaints.

The lawsuit claims the school district and Woodbridge were negligent by failing to protect the boy and by failing to make the restrooms safe.

The mother, who has since moved to a town in the Sierra foothills, seeks undisclosed compensatory and punitive damages from the school district.

Lisa P. White covers Martinez and Pleasant Hill. Reach her at 925-943-8011.