I was talking with a parent and I generally have a good idea what to suggest but I'm stumped. The child has ADHD & anxiety and the IEP report said emotional disability which the parent disagrees with. The child started kindergarten with a 1:1. One day, the child was leaning on the aide. This was early in the school year and this was a new school but the aide was her aide in preschool. I viewed this as a comfort situation - a way an anxious child might self-regulate. The gen ed teacher didn't like this. She contacted the crisis team and moved the child away from the aide. The child got upset and acted out. They ended up being restrained.
This was not the only restraint that happened this school year. The child was prevented from having free movement 7 or 8 times that school year but only one restraint was reported. This is in Pennsylvania where PDE has people who review restraint reports and look for patterns of abuse. Obviously, if the occurrences are not reported, they will not see a pattern. I was shown a video of 2 adults holding a gym mat against this child as she stood next to a wall. She was screaming that she couldn't breathe. The video did not show what happened before this. This, the parent was told was not a restraint. This was not reported to PDE. They were just preventing her for getting hurt. The nurse's office had several (5 or 6) records of this child getting hurt at school when this happened to this child. Academically, this child is bright; there doesn't seem to be any academic issues.
The parent reported what was going on to Children, Youth & Families (other places call this Child Protective Services - CPS). They were unable to investigate this because the school district has a contract with them and as a result, they cannot be impartial. The family did arrange for another county's CYF department to investigate and they concluded that personnel at this school did abuse this child. The family filed for due process and the school counter filed. The judge (hearing officer ?) dismissed the case after hearing only the school's side of things. Nothing happened to the staff member who abused this child. They continue to work in their same role at this school.
The student was placed at a different school building. This school has an alt ed school within the school. The goal is to integrate students into the gen ed environment from this more restrictive placement. The other kids on the bus to this school are all strapped in (I'm assuming a harness to prevent them from getting out of their seats). They would scream for the entire ride. This upset this child so the parents ended up driving them to school. They were placed here for 1st and 2nd grade.
For 3rd grade, the parents moved their child to a catholic school. They have been there a month & so far so good. The thing is that the parents would like to request accommodations but they do not want to share that the child was previously in alt ed and is labeled as emotionally disabled. They would like a new evaluation but they don't want their district to do it.
My question: Can a parent go to a charter school & request a special ed evaluation? They are public schools. Is there any reason why they cannot do an evaluation on a student who attends a private school?
My other question: In Pennsylvania, the CYF department is in charge of investigating child abuse in schools (it used to be the police but that changed with Gerry Sandusky). Should they be allowed to have a contractual relationship that prevents CYF from doing their job with impartially investigating abuse in schools?
Other questions: Why did the teacher touch this child and pull them away from her comfort person? The child was not a threat when the crisis team was called - the teacher provoked the child into a crisis. Why were there no incidents reported in 1st & 2nd gared? Was it that the child changed or were there incidents but they weren't reported? Why is a person who was found to abuse this child still working in the school? Why is this stuff getting brushed under the rug? Should I go to the parent in this district who runs a hidden/private support group on Facebook and ask if they know of other instances like this? Why are kids screaming on the bus for 35 minutes?
Thanks for reading this. Is there more that I can do?
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JSD24
I was talking with a parent and I generally have a good idea what to suggest but I'm stumped. The child has ADHD & anxiety and the IEP report said emotional disability which the parent disagrees with. The child started kindergarten with a 1:1. One day, the child was leaning on the aide. This was early in the school year and this was a new school but the aide was her aide in preschool. I viewed this as a comfort situation - a way an anxious child might self-regulate. The gen ed teacher didn't like this. She contacted the crisis team and moved the child away from the aide. The child got upset and acted out. They ended up being restrained.
This was not the only restraint that happened this school year. The child was prevented from having free movement 7 or 8 times that school year but only one restraint was reported. This is in Pennsylvania where PDE has people who review restraint reports and look for patterns of abuse. Obviously, if the occurrences are not reported, they will not see a pattern. I was shown a video of 2 adults holding a gym mat against this child as she stood next to a wall. She was screaming that she couldn't breathe. The video did not show what happened before this. This, the parent was told was not a restraint. This was not reported to PDE. They were just preventing her for getting hurt. The nurse's office had several (5 or 6) records of this child getting hurt at school when this happened to this child. Academically, this child is bright; there doesn't seem to be any academic issues.
The parent reported what was going on to Children, Youth & Families (other places call this Child Protective Services - CPS). They were unable to investigate this because the school district has a contract with them and as a result, they cannot be impartial. The family did arrange for another county's CYF department to investigate and they concluded that personnel at this school did abuse this child. The family filed for due process and the school counter filed. The judge (hearing officer ?) dismissed the case after hearing only the school's side of things. Nothing happened to the staff member who abused this child. They continue to work in their same role at this school.
The student was placed at a different school building. This school has an alt ed school within the school. The goal is to integrate students into the gen ed environment from this more restrictive placement. The other kids on the bus to this school are all strapped in (I'm assuming a harness to prevent them from getting out of their seats). They would scream for the entire ride. This upset this child so the parents ended up driving them to school. They were placed here for 1st and 2nd grade.
For 3rd grade, the parents moved their child to a catholic school. They have been there a month & so far so good. The thing is that the parents would like to request accommodations but they do not want to share that the child was previously in alt ed and is labeled as emotionally disabled. They would like a new evaluation but they don't want their district to do it.
My question: Can a parent go to a charter school & request a special ed evaluation? They are public schools. Is there any reason why they cannot do an evaluation on a student who attends a private school?
My other question: In Pennsylvania, the CYF department is in charge of investigating child abuse in schools (it used to be the police but that changed with Gerry Sandusky). Should they be allowed to have a contractual relationship that prevents CYF from doing their job with impartially investigating abuse in schools?
Other questions: Why did the teacher touch this child and pull them away from her comfort person? The child was not a threat when the crisis team was called - the teacher provoked the child into a crisis. Why were there no incidents reported in 1st & 2nd gared? Was it that the child changed or were there incidents but they weren't reported? Why is a person who was found to abuse this child still working in the school? Why is this stuff getting brushed under the rug? Should I go to the parent in this district who runs a hidden/private support group on Facebook and ask if they know of other instances like this? Why are kids screaming on the bus for 35 minutes?
Thanks for reading this. Is there more that I can do?
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