NH: Four Charged in Tatooing 14 Yr Old Special Needs Child Against His Will

May 22, 2010

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/22/charged-tattooing-year-old/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+foxnews/us+(Text+-+US)

CONCORD, N.H. -- Four people have been charged with tattooing a 14-year-old special needs student on his backside, against his will, Concord police said.

The boy, whose name was not released, told police the four told him he wouldn't be picked on at Concord High School if he submitted to it. An image, with two obscene words was tattooed on him May 10, police said.

The victim was targeted because he's intellectually challenged, prosecutor Scott Murray said.

"You put yourself in this kid's position, your heart has to go out to him," said Sgt. John Thomas, who said the boy has been picked on so much that he would do anything to stop it. "It's gotten so bad that you have to subject your body to being scarred for life, just to be accepted by your peers."

Blake VanNest, 18, is charged with assault, endangering the welfare of a minor, tattooing without a license, indecent exposure and criminal threatening. Donald Wyman, 20, is charged with criminal liability for the conduct of another and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a minor.

Two others -- Ryan Fisk, 19 and Travis Johnston, 18, -- are also charged.

For more on this story, please follow the link: http://tinyurl.com/28a24ex

NH: School district denies abuse lawsuit liability

December 28, 2008

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20081228-NEWS-812280319

CONCORD (AP) — The Winnisquam Regional School District is denying liability in a lawsuit filed by two women who say they were sexually abused years ago by the same New Hampshire teacher.

Lawyer John Teague said Friday that the district did nothing to make it negligent.

Two women are suing Winnisquam alleging they were repeatedly molested as students in the 1970s and 1980s by former biology teacher Walter Garland. They claim administrators did nothing to stop the abuse.

Garland, who denies the allegations, is now an assistant principal at Exeter High School.

Garland has been on paid leave since Nov. 3.

A third woman is suing the district alleging she was molested during the same period by a guidance counselor.

NH: 3rd woman sues NH school district alleging abuse

Associated Press - December 18, 2008 11:45 AM ET

http://www.fox44.net/Global/story.asp?S=9547918

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A third woman is suing New Hampshire's Winnisquam Regional School District, saying she was sexually abused by a guidance counselor more than three decades ago.

Forty-9-year-old Joan Barnum of Holderness alleges she was molested as a student several years before different lawsuits allege a teacher abused two other students.

Her lawyer, Peter Hutchins, says Barnum decided to sue after she heard about lawsuits filed against the district last month by two women who said they were molested repeatedly by a former teacher at the same school, Winnisquam Regional High School.

Hutchins said the link between the women's lawsuits is that the school's administrators were the same.

Potential legal fees have worried the school board, which put a temporary freeze on the district's budget.

Information from: Concord Monitor, http://www.cmonitor.com

New Hampshire - Regulations

New Hampshire has minimal state law on the subject. New Hampshire’s criminal statutes provide that teachers will not be held criminally liable for using necessary force toward a student in certain situations. RSA 627:6. New Hampshire state regulations provide, however, that misconduct or unprofessional conduct that would potentially place a student in physical or emotional jeopardy is grounds for the suspension or revocation of an educator’s certification. Ed 511.02. All students are entitled to a safe and healthy educational environment.

School employees who have supervisory responsibility over students have a legal obligation to supervise students with due care and to take reasonable steps to protect them from injury.

Marquay v. Eno, 139 NH 708 (1995); State v. Drake, 139 NH 662 (1995). New Hampshire’s state special education regulations prohibit public and private schools from using aversive or deprivational measures that subject a child to humiliation, unsupervised confinement, abuse or neglect, or a denial of basic necessities. Ed 1119.02, (e); Ed 1133.07, (c).