OH: Legal Society Files Complaint for Prone Restraint of Child with Autism; Staff Allegedly "Trained" in CPI

From Ohio Legal Rights Services:

LRS files complaint in case involving restraint of student with autism

May 3, 2010

Ohio Legal Rights Service (LRS) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division seeking relief for an 11-year-old child with autism and developmental disabilities who was allegedly abused by his special education teacher and aide. The alleged abuse occurred in a classroom during a prone restraint.

LRS states in the complaint that all medical opinions conclude that the student was abused during the prone restraint. The extreme force and pressure applied during the restraint episode by the teacher and her aide caused intradermal hemorrhaging indicating the student's blood flow and oxygen were obstructed. The complaint alleges that the manner in which the teacher and the aide restrained the student was reckless and completely outside of any professionally acceptable method and was conducted in conscious disregard for the student's rights and safety.

The complaint claims the Defendants violated the student's rights under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by failing to protect the student's due process right to personal security and to be free from bodily harm at the hands of state actors, such as teachers, aides and administrators. The named Defendants include the teacher, classroom aide, school district, educational service center and all agencies, governing boards and personnel responsible for the implementation and supervision of the special education program.

A jury trial was requested by the Plaintiff. Read the complaint (PDF file)

For more information about restraint and seclusion in schools and LRS' work in this area, see the Restraint and Seclusion section.

NY: School board members must report child abuse in educational setting

Excerpt from New York State School Board Association:

On Board Online • April 26, 2010

By Pilar Sokol
Deputy General Counsel

In a ruling involving a school board member who heard an allegation of an improper contact between a district employee and a student, the commissioner of education urged a school district to make sure it provides In Board of Education for the City School District of the City of Elmira, the commissioner denied a request to remove the board member from office, but he advised her to comply strictly with mandatory reporting requirements in the future.

As a result of this decision, all school boards should review their training program on mandatory reporting requirements applicable to incidents of alleged child abuse in an educational setting and implement the program on an ongoing basis. Like other school mandatory reporters, board members should receive training on reporting compliance procedures.

The case arose after a school board member received third-hand information last fall that a school district employee allegedly had inappropriate contact with a student. She shared the information with another board member who notified the superintendent. The superintendent, in turn, commenced an investigation and contacted police.

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The commissioner ruled the board failed to establish the board member’s actions warranted her removal.

Nonetheless, the commissioner “strongly” reminded the board member of the obligation of school board members to comply with the child abuse in an educational setting reporting requirements, and the “importance of strictly abiding” with those requirements in the future. The commissioner also urged the school board to make sure it provides training on such requirements on an ongoing basis.

For more information, please click on the following link: http://www.nyssba.org/index.php?src=news&srctype=detail&category=On%20Board%20Online%20April%2026%202010&refno=1339