D.C.: Court says public must pay for private special ed

Note: Good news from the Supreme Court!

6/22/09

Associated Press: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gzxsVAYHwaGjGyXVQAilpK4rfREAD98VPK6G0

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has made it easier for parents of special education students to be reimbursed for the cost of private schooling for their children.

The court ruled 6-3 Monday in favor of a teenage boy from Oregon whose parents sought to force their local public school district to pay the $5,200 a month it cost to send their son to a private school.

Federal law calls for school districts to reimburse students or their families for education costs when public schools do not have services that address or fulfill the students' needs. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the nation's special education students are entitled to a "free and appropriate public education."

Schools have argued that parents of special education students should have given public special education programs a chance before seeking reimbursement for private school tuition. But advocacy groups and parents of some special education students contend that forcing them to try public schools first could force children, especially poor ones, to spend time in an undesirable situation before getting the help they need.

In the case before the Supreme Court, the family of a teenage Oregon boy diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder sued the school district, saying the school did not properly address the student's learning problems. The family is seeking reimbursement for the student's tuition, which cost $5,200-a-month. The family paid a total of $65,000 in private tuition.

In its appeal, the Forest Grove School District said students should be forced to at least give public special education programs a try before seeking reimbursement for private tuition.

Justice John Paul Stevens said in his majority opinion that the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires a school district to pay for private special ed services if the public school doesn't have appropriate services.

"We conclude that IDEA authorizes reimbursement for the cost of special education services when a school district fails to provide a FAPE and the private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special education or related services through the public school," Stevens said.

HEARING TOMORROW!! 10:00 am! Washington, DC. Live Webcast!

Examining the Abusive and Deadly Use of Seclusion and Restraint in Schools

Full Committee Hearing 10:00 AM, May 19, 2009 2175 Rayburn H.O.B. Washington, DC

On Tuesday, May 19, the House Committee on Education and Labor will hold a hearing to examine abusive and deadly uses of seclusion and restraint in U.S. schools. Seclusion and restraint are physical interventions used by teachers and other school staff to prevent students from hurting themselves or others

Witnesses:

Ann Gaydos Mother of a victim Monument, Colorado

Elizabeth Hanselman Assistant Superintendant for Special Education and Support Services Springfield, Illinois

Mary V. Kealy, EdD Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services Loudoun County Public Schools Virginia

Greg Kutz Managing DirectorForensic Audits and Special Investigations U.S. Government Accountability Office Washington, D.C.

Reece L. Peterson, Ph.D. Professor of Special Education University of Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska

Toni Price Mother of a victim who died Killeen, Texas

The live webcast (10 am EDT) will be here – http://edwork.edgeboss.net/wmedia-live/edwork/16137/300_edwork-2175stream_070124.asx

And the hearing page will have the written testimony as it is given – http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2009/05/examining-the-abusive-and-dead.shtml

Washington, D.C.: D.C. Families Bemoan Imminent Loss of Voucher Program

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has decided not to offer vouchers for new students because Congress extended the program for only one more school year.

By Molly Henneberg

FOXNews.com

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/14/dc-families-bemoan-imminent-loss-voucher-program/

For the past three years, 8-year-old Nico Thomas has attended and enjoyed private school through the voucher program in Washington.

"I like it a lot, and I get good grades," she told FOX News.

Nico's mother, Latasha Bennett, thought her 4-year-old daughter, Nia, also had qualified for a voucher, until the Bennetts and 199 other families got letters last week saying "no scholarships will be awarded to new students this year."

Bennett said she was disgusted.

"Education is our children's future," she told FOX News. "Without the proper education, there's nothing."

The D.C. program gives about 1,700 low-income children scholarships worth up to $7,500, paid for with federal taxpayer dollars each year to cover costs of attending private schools -- rather than the long-troubled D.C. public schools. The five-year pilot program was set to expire this year until Congress extended the program for only one more school year.

As a result, Education Secretary Arne Duncan decided not to offer vouchers for new students.

"To put them in for a year and then put them out didn't make sense," he said.

The issue of vouchers has exposed a deep fissure between Republicans, who support them, and Democrats, who oppose them.

Republicans insist that parents deserve a choice if their kids are in failing schools, saying vouchers create competition that puts pressure on public schools to do better.

Democrats, teachers' unions and other opponents say it is impossible to expect public schools to do better while precious public dollars are being siphoned away to private schools.

But the voucher program in Washington has been an exception in the debate over vouchers. Because of the sorry state of public schools in the nation's capitol, some Democrats were willing to allow it in 2003 when a Republican-led Congress created the voucher program.

It is the only federal voucher program in the country. Other cities and states have similar programs -- vouchers are available in Milwaukee, Cleveland, Florida, Utah, Arizona and Georgia -- but they are paid for with local tax dollars.

Supporters of vouchers have said teachers unions are putting pressure on Congress and the Obama administration to kill the voucher program in Washington. But Duncan insists that had nothing to do with it.

"No, that's a non-issue," he said. "The issue for me is I'm really concerned about the 1,700 students. We want to try and make sure they can stay in schools they want to be in."

Meanwhile, voucher program students, such as sophomore Ronald Holassie, wonder if they'll be able to stay in their schools or return to the D.C. public schools.

"It hits me in the hardest year -- senior year. It's going to hit me that I have to go back. All that I worked for in my high school years, I would lose."

Two other students who would lose are Sarah and James Parker. They go to Sidwell Friends, the same private school Sasha and Malia Obama attend. They'll have to go back to public school at the end of next year unless Congress and the D.C. City Council approve extending the voucher program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Missing Person Report: Have You Seen William Van Croft?

Have you seen William Van Croft?

We just saw a news bulletin that 17 year old William Van Croft, who has Asperger's Syndrome disappeared on January 31, 2009 - the one year anniversary of his father's death.

Here's the police bulletin:

The Metropolitan Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a missing person identified as 17-year-old William Vancroft. He was last seen at about 4:30 pm on Thursday, January 31, 2009 in the 1300 block of G Street, SE. (Washington D.C.)

William is described as a medium complexioned black male, 5’8” tall, weighing about 168 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a burgundy sweater.

He is in need of medication and may appear to be disoriented.

Anyone who has information regarding William Vancroft’s whereabouts is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099.

And here's an update from his mother Jackie:

Posted by Jason Cherkis on Feb. 25, 2009, at 3:51 pm

This afternoon, I checked in with Jackie Van Croft. On January 31, her son William went missing. He’s still missing. William has Asperger’s Syndrome. He disappeared on the one-year anniversary of his father’s death.

“The police are working on all leads,” Van Croft says. “They have been getting tips, people have been calling in the tip line. They are responding to all leads. His case has not been forgotten. I know it seems like — I don’t know what other family members do, I’m trying to do what I can to protect my son.”

It’s hard to protect a missing son. “My son has been through a great deal and the family has been through a lot,” Van Croft says. “It’s really difficult to think about him being out there and not have the family to protect him. He had a mentor/therapist. He had lots of therapists. And of those people were there to help him grow. And help him to become a whole person, a wonderful person. Now, he’s out there.”

I ask Van Croft what a normal day is like now. “I just try to work,” she explains. “I still cook in a large quantity because I expect him to be coming in. I tend to pick up his favorite foods….Fridays are still devoted to wrestling. So are Mondays. Fridays are wrestling night and pizza.”

Today, Van Croft called her son’s school just to check in. “I try to give updates,” she says. “The kids are worried and they want their classmate back. I wanted to assure them that I feel he’s coming back.”

Van Croft drives by the places her son was last seen. She has two daughters. The youngest came home a few weeks ago with a tip. “A classmate thought he saw Billy on the bus,” Van Croft recalls, adding that her daughter had instructions on what to do with this tip: “Make sure you tell the police.”

“We’re keeping strong,” Van Croft says. “There have been some really good tips and we’re pushing forward. I will let you know when Billy comes home.”

Washington D.C.: House Education and Labor Committee will consider legislation on Wednesday

From congressman miller's website:

Home » Press Releases » Miller, McCarthy Reintroduce Legislation to Stop Child Abuse in Teen Residential Programs

http://edlabor.house.gov/newsroom/2009/02/miller-mccarthy-reintroduce-le.shtml
Miller, McCarthy Reintroduce Legislation to Stop Child Abuse in Teen Residential Programs

February 9, 2009 2:58 PM

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) today reintroduced legislation to protect teenagers attending residential treatment programs from physical, mental and sexual abuse and to prevent deceptive marketing practices by operators of private residential programs for teens. The lawmakers also announced that the House Education and Labor Committee will mark up the legislation on Wednesday.

Investigations conducted by the Government Accountability Office during the 110th Congress at the lawmakers’ request have uncovered thousands of cases and allegations of child abuse and neglect since the early 1990’s at teen residential programs, including therapeutic boarding schools, boot camps, wilderness programs and behavior modification facilities. Currently, these programs are governed only by a weak patchwork of state and federal standards. A separate GAO report, also conducted last year at the committee’s request, found major gaps in the licensing and oversight of residential programs – some of which are not covered by any state licensing standards at all.

In addition, the GAO’s investigation revealed that many teen residential treatment programs have been using deceptive marketing practices and questionable tactics to lure vulnerable parents desperate to find help for their children.

“For far too long, these abuses, neglect and mistreatment of children – some of the most horrific violations of trust imaginable – have been allowed to go on completely unchecked,” said Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “Parents deserve every assurance that their children will be safe and protected when attending a program intended to help improve their lives.”

"It is no doubt a painful and difficult decision for parents to send their children to residential treatment facilities and the last thing they should have to worry about is the possibility of unknowingly putting their kids in harms way,” said McCarthy, chairwoman of the Healthy Families and Communities subcommittee. “It is crucial that federal standards are set in place to prevent the abuse, neglect and deceptive marking practices that have devastated so many children and families.”

To address these problems, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009, would:

• Establish, for the first time, minimum federal standards for preventing child abuse and neglect at teen residential programs. The bill would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to inspect all programs around the country every two years and to issue civil penalties against programs that violate the new standards. The bill also calls for states, within three years, to take on the role of setting and enforcing standards for both private and public youth residential programs.
• Strengthen protections for children attending these programs. The bill would require programs to provide children with adequate food, water, medical care and rest.
• Ensure that programs are transparent and provide parents with information about teen residential programs that enable them to make safe choices for their teenagers. The legislation would create a toll-free national hotline for individuals to report cases of abuse and a website with information about substantiated cases of abuse at residential programs, including programs locations, owners, and history of violations and child fatalities. Programs would also be required to inform parents of their staff members’ qualifications, roles and responsibilities.

The House passed similar legislation last June by a bipartisan vote of 318 to 103, with the support of the American Association of Children’s Residential Centers, American Bar Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, the Child Welfare League of America, Children’s Defense Fund, Easter Seals, Mental Health America, the National Child Abuse Coalition and many other organizations.

For more information on this legislation, click here.

For more information on the committee’s past hearings on these abuses, at which GAO released its reports, click here.

VA: Mental patients isolated for years despite laws

By DENA POTTER

The Associated Press 
Tuesday, December 23, 2008; 2:01 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/23/AR2008122301458.html?hpid=sec-health

STAUNTON, Va. -- Mental patients sprinkled throughout the nation's psychiatric hospitals are being locked up alone for years despite laws aimed at preventing the practice, because medical workers say they're too dangerous to handle any other way.

Health officials call them outliers _ rare, unpredictably violent people who don't respond to medication or other treatment. Advocates call them victims of a system that has lost patience and creativity in caring for those who are most difficult to treat.

Loopholes in federal and state laws and impotent oversight allow hospitals to lock some patients away for the safety of staff and other patients. Some cases involving seclusion and restraints have resulted in costly lawsuits, yet they are so rare that many advocates had no idea there were similar situations in other states until The Associated Press inquired about it.

No one tracks such cases. However, through interviews and records from advocacy groups and state and federal agencies, the AP found at least a dozen patients who were held in seclusion for months or years at a time.

"I think it's just a wink and a nod and some people are looking the other way," said Charlie McCarthy, an advocate with Disability Rights Montana, who nevertheless said he understands what drives hospitals to work around the law.

"Everybody's frustrated with what do you do with somebody like this? The patient has rights, but the other patients have rights to be safe and free from abuse."

In Virginia, one man was locked in a three-room suite for 15 years and another patient was held in a similar setup for five years. Connecticut and Florida have paid millions over allegations that they tethered patients to furniture for years.

Federal law requires that seclusion or restraints _ including drugs _ be used on patients covered by Medicare or Medicaid only in emergencies to protect other patients and staff. Such measures can be used for more than 24 hours only if a physician deems it necessary, and only if a doctor updates that assessment daily.

Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to restrain or isolate patients for extended periods.

The laws and court rulings don't cap the consecutive days a patient can be isolated or restrained, though, so hospitals can hold a patient indefinitely by simply signing off on it every 24 hours.

The Supreme Court also has ruled that hospitals must treat people who are involuntarily committed. So Stuart Grassian, a psychiatrist who has studied the effects of solitary confinement on prisoners, and others question whether outliers are being held legally.

"Once a person is locked up, the state has to provide them with adequate and appropriate treatment, otherwise they lose any authority and any legitimacy to keeping the people locked up against their will," Grassian said.

Seclusion, he said, can intensify patients' paranoia, agitation and delusions.

Advocates insist that with proper training and sufficient staffing, hospitals can eliminate the need for seclusion and restraints in nearly all cases, not just outliers.

In 1997, Pennsylvania enacted stricter policies against those techniques, trained staff in crisis management and established minimum staffing levels for its psychiatric facilities. Today, the state does not seclude or restrain patients for extended periods and rarely uses either method at all, according to the state mental health agency.

Such efforts can be costly, but proponents cite them as proof that with the right support, any mentally ill person can improve enough to safely interact with others.

"People can make progress and they do get to a point where they can be reintegrated into the community," said Deborah Dorfman, deputy director of the Los Angeles-based Disability Rights Legal Center. "You just need the right treatment and the right expertise."

A spokesman for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which investigates complaints concerning institutionalized individuals, would not comment on the use of seclusion and restraint. According to its Web site, the division wrapped up two probes this year that found improper use of seclusion and restraint in Oregon and Georgia and recommended policy changes to the governors of those states.

At Oregon State Hospital, investigators found four patients who had lived in prolonged seclusion, some for at least a year. In a report, the Justice Department called the practice "unrefined and unlawful" and said it had never "encountered the use of continuous seclusion as a planned treatment strategy."

Since 2006, the Justice Department has entered into settlements with California, Vermont and the District of Columbia over violations that include improper seclusion and restraint at mental hospitals.

At Western State Hospital in Staunton, Va., the state stepped in after staff placed Cesar Chumil in a three-room "limited containment suite" in 1993, where he has remained since. Chumil averaged 300 assaults against staff and another 100 against patients over seven years before he was placed in the suite, according to records from a closed administrative hearing obtained by the AP.

Hospital officials claim the 58-year-old has more freedom than before, when records show he spent thousands of hours in a small seclusion cell or restrained to a bed or chair.

"It's a big step to put somebody in a room like this and say, 'You can't come out,' but we had so many people getting injured and so many staff were out of work," said Stephen Johnson, the psychologist on Chumil's ward. "It just got to the point where it was just untenable ... so we had this one solution."

Last summer, a state oversight committee determined that the hospital should move Chumil out of seclusion. The hospital moved all other patients off Chumil's ward this month and unlocked the door to his suite so he could go out into an activity room when he wanted. Hospital workers in padded gear and helmets must be present _ for everyone's safety, but also so that he is no longer alone and therefore no longer technically in seclusion.

In Connecticut, a 23-year-old man has lived in a two-room cell since 2001, said Nancy Alisberg, an attorney for the state's Office of Protection and Advocacy. When he behaves, staff take him on walks around the grounds and sometimes take him to church and other places, she said, declining to identify the man because of privacy laws.

Often, the rooms where patients are held for months or years at a time are more pleasant than traditional seclusion rooms _ usually tiny block rooms containing only a mattress. They have TVs and personal items. Chumil even has a phone.

"In a situation like that, the best you can do is to create a living environment that is as safe and contained as possible," said Kevin Huckshorn of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. "And while yes, you could call it seclusion, the only other options are going to be things like restraint, which is even more restrictive."

Patients have been removed from long-term seclusion in other states, including Massachusetts, Oregon and Maryland, after advocates stepped in, some threatening lawsuits. Other states have paid millions of dollars for breaking restraint and seclusion laws.

In Florida, the state lost a lawsuit in 1998 and was forced to pay $18 million for strapping a man to a bed or wheelchair for 2 1/2 years.

Connecticut has paid $600,000 a year since 2002 to house a former patient at a special facility in California as part of an out-of-court settlement. He had been tied to a bed in a small, concrete room at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown for more than a year, said Susan Aranoff, an attorney with the nonprofit Connecticut Legal Rights Project who fought for his transfer.

Wayne Dailey, senior policy adviser for the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, denied holding any patient in restraints for such a long a time.

Federally mandated advocates in each state protect the mentally ill and disabled but don't have the manpower or money for constant monitoring, said Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, which represents advocates.

Like other groups that look out for the mentally ill, Decker said he didn't know patients were being held in long-term seclusion but that it was something his organization will begin looking into.

"We put these people sort of out of sight and out of mind," Decker said, "and bad things can happen."

D.C.: Abused Children Dying Under Shroud of State Secrecy

Special Note: This article was published on April 29, 2008.

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS220088+29-Apr-2008+PRN20080429

Report Shows Most States Fail to Release Information Critical to Exposing and Resolving Systemic Problems in Child Abuse Prevention Systems

WASHINGTON, April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The majority of U.S. states fail to release adequate information about fatal and life-threatening child abuse cases, adhering to misguided and secretive policies that place confidentiality above the welfare of children and prevent public scrutiny that would lead to systemic reforms, according to a report released today by First Star and the University of San Diego School of Law's Children's Advocacy
Institute (CAI), two leading national child advocacy groups.

Only a handful of states fully comply with the legislative intent of federal law mandating public disclosure of the deaths and near deaths of abused or neglected children, according to the report, entitled State Secrecy and Child Deaths in the U.S. The report's authors argue that states withhold critical information that would hold child welfare systems accountable and avert future tragedies. First Star and CAI released their findings at a Capitol Hill briefing today.

The report issues letter grades from "A" to "F" based on an analysis of the child death and near death disclosure laws and policies of all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Only six states -- Nevada, New Hampshire, California, Indiana, Iowa and Oregon -- receive top grades of "A" or "A-." Twenty-eight states receive a "C+" or lower grade. Ten states flunked entirely: Georgia, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont received a grade of "F" (see attached chart).

"When abuse or neglect lead to a child's death or near death, a state's interest in confidentiality becomes secondary to the interests of taxpayers, advocates and other children, who would be better served by maximum transparency," said Amy Harfeld, First Star's Executive Director and a co-author of the report. "Once we know what is broken, we can try to fix it."

Approximately 1,500 children die each year in the U.S. as a result of child abuse and neglect. Countless more suffer life-threatening injuries.

First Star and CAI are calling on Congress and individual state Legislatures to adopt stronger policies and laws that demand closer examination of the handling of child abuse cases that result in child deaths or near deaths.

"The current emphasis on confidentiality only masks the problems inherent in child protection systems," said Robert C. Fellmeth, CAI Executive Director and Price Professor of Public Interest Law at the USD School of Law. "Public exposure is a critical step toward fixing these problems."

All 50 states and the District of Columbia accept federal funds under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). To be eligible for funding, states are supposed to have provisions that "allow for public disclosure of the findings or information about" abuse or neglect cases that result in child death or life-threatening injuries. But few states adequately comply, in part
because the public disclosure requirement in CAPTA leaves too much room for interpretation.

The Report highlights Massachusetts as an example of a state in need of reform. In Massachusetts in 2005, Haleigh Poutre, then 11, was allegedly beaten into a coma by her foster parents. The Department of Social Services had received and dismissed at least 14 separate reports of prior suspected abuse.

First Star and CAI are pushing for changes in state and federal laws, including: -- Clarified language in federal law (CAPTA). CAI and First Star acknowledge that the public disclosure mandate as written in federal law is vague and leaves too much room for interpretation. They support changes that would clarify and strengthen disclosure requirements so states know how to comply with the intent of the legislation.

-- Amendments to state policies and laws. To make disclosure policies more enforceable, the advocacy groups want state Legislatures to more clearly articulate and strengthen their policies and modify their statutes to require maximum transparency in cases of death and near death caused by abuse or neglect.

-- Separating disclosures from criminal proceedings. Currently, some states, such as Minnesota and North Carolina, will not release information about a child fatality or near fatality unless a person is criminally charged. Disclosures should not be dependent on a district attorney's decision to prosecute.

"Child abuse deaths and near deaths reflect the system's worst failures," said CAI's Emily Reinig, the report's chief author. "Unfortunately, it is often only through such cases that lawmakers and the public learn of systemic inadequacies in child welfare systems. Until state laws require the regular release of accurate and unfiltered information, an informed public discussion cannot occur. Public access to the facts will protect children and save lives."

About First Star
First Star is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening the rights and improving the lives of America's abused and neglected children through education, public policy, legislative reform, and litigation.
http://www.firststar.org/

About The Children's Advocacy Institute
The Children's Advocacy Institute, of the University of San Diego School of Law, works to improve the health, safety, and well being of children. In addition to its academic component, CAI engages in regulatory and legislative advocacy, impact litigation and public education in order to ensure that children's interests are represented effectively whenever and wherever
government makes policy and budget decisions that will impact them.
http://www.caichildlaw.org/


GRADES
At a Glance

Jurisdiction Grade Jurisdiction Grade

Alabama B- Missouri B-
Alaska C Montana F
Arizona B Nebraska C+
Arkansas C- Nevada A
California A- New Hampshire A
Colorado D New Jersey B-
Connecticut B- New Mexico F
Delaware C New York B+
District of
Columbia B- North Carolina C
Florida B+ North Dakota F
Georgia F Ohio C+
Hawaii B- Oklahoma C+
Idaho B- Oregon A-
Illinois B+ Pennsylvania F
Indiana A- Rhode Island C-
Iowa A- South Carolina C
Kansas B South Dakota F
Kentucky C- Tennessee F
Louisiana C- Texas C+
Maine D+ Utah F
Maryland F Vermont F
Massachusetts D- Virginia C-
Michigan B- Washington B
Minnesota B West Virginia B-
Mississippi B- Wisconsin D
Wyoming D+


NEWS CONFERENCE CALL TODAY AT 3PM IN WASHINGTON, DC

Media dial-in number: 888-398-1687 PARTICIPANT PASSCODE: 5198644

SOURCE The Children's Advocacy Institute

Amy Harfeld of First Star, +1-202-293-3703, or Elisa Weichel of CAI,
+1-858-254-1789, or Dominic Slowey of Slowey-McManus Communications,
+1-781-710-0014, all for The Children's Advocacy Institute

D.C.: Teacher Identified in Beauvoir Child Porn Case

WRC-TV
updated 5:15 p.m. ET, Wed., Oct. 15, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27188800/

WASHINGTON - D.C. police identified an elementary school teacher suspected of possession of inappropriate photos of young boys.


Police are searching for former Beauvoir Elementary School teacher Eric Toth, 26, Detective Sgt. Morani Hines said. Toth is wanted for possession of child pornography.

In early June, Toth, who taught third-graders at Beauvoir Elementary School, was kicked off the campus at the National Cathedral in northwest Washington.

On June 12, the school notified parents in a letter that a teacher was found in possession of a school-owned camera with inappropriate pictures of a boy. Sources told that pictures of at least three other boys being touched in inappropriate ways were on a thumb drive.

It was common for Toth to tutor and baby-sit Beauvoir students, sources said. At least one of the boys photographed is believed to be a Beauvoir student, sources said.

In August, Toth's car was found in a parking garage at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. A note in the car indicated that Toth was contemplating suicide and that his body would be found in a nearby lake, sources said. Investigators believe that may be a ruse, police said.

"No body has been found, and it's reasonable to believe he's still alive," Hines said.

Toth had worked at Beauvoir for three years. Before the end of the 2007-08 school year, he resigned and told school officials he wouldn't be returning this year.

Federal authorities and police in Fairfax County, Va., and Montgomery County, Md., also are involved in the investigation, sources said. Incidents related to the case may have taken place inside homes in those counties.

Anyone with information about the case should call police at 202-727-9099.