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$450,000 Settlement in N.C. Teacher Abuse and Seclusion Case
by Pete & Pam Wright, Wrightslaw.com
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On January 09, 2020, news broke about a $450,000 settlement between the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) and the parents of a child with autism who attended Southeast Raleigh High School (SERHS).
Background
This case is about S.L., a boy who was diagnosed with autism at age two. S.L. attended Wake County Public Schools (WCPSS) where he was placed in self-contained classes from 6th grade through April of his 11th grade year.
In April 2019, school staff at Southeast Raleigh High School observed a special education teacher behaving aggressively to one of his students who had a severe disability.
The staff reported to the administraton that students with disabilities were victims of a physically aggressive special education teacher who improperly restrained, secluded and isolated his students in a storage room.
Parent attorney Stacey Gahagan explained, “The district has a protocol for reporting teachers who engage in abusive behavior to the State Board of Education. The Board reviews the situation and decides whether licensure revocation is appropriate.
The school district assured S.L.'s parents that it follows this protocol consistently to ensure teachers who mistreat students, especially those with disabilities, do not end up teaching in another school."
But in S.L.'s case, the administrators did not follow the protocol. They failed to report these allegations to the State Board. The rogue teacher continued to teach. School staff who reported the teacher's abusive behavior were transferred or investigated.
In addition to physically and emotionally abusing his students, this special ed teacher converted a storage closet into a "seclusion room" where he isolated his students for hours or even a full school day - another violation of NC law.
(See "Section 115C-391.1 - Permissible Use of Seclusion and Restraint that includes Required Notice, Reporting and Documentation")
When S.L.'s parents noticed multiple bruises on their son’s body, attorney Gahagan said they sent an email with pictures to the school administration and to the school district reporting their concerns.
Gahagan said no one contacted parents to investigate the report.
Despite reports of abuse from school staff and S.L.'s parents, Wake County did not investigate the behavior of S.L.’s teacher. The rogue teacher continued to work as a special education teacher of children with severe disabilities.
Gahagan said that an investigation didn’t begin until after the district’s legal counsel was made aware of the allegations.
A spokesman for the school district responded by email: “The district was unaware of the allegations prior to the parent’s petition ... After the allegations were made, Special Education Services provided mandatory training for all teachers at the school who work with students in self-contained classrooms.”
The spokesman did not provide a rationale for the district's refusal to investigate claims of abuse by school staff and this child's parents.
Schools are allowed to seclude students, placing them in a different room from other students, to prevent injury. But they’re not allowed to seclude them solely for disciplinary reasons, according to Disability Rights NC.
What Does N.C. Law Say About Restraint & Seclusion?
115C-391.1 - Permissible use of seclusion and restraint.
(e) Seclusion:
(2) Except as set forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection, the use of seclusion is not considered reasonable force, and its use is not permitted.
(3) Seclusion shall not be considered a reasonable use of force when used solely as a disciplinary consequence.
(j) Notice, Reporting, and Documentation.
(1) Notice of specific procedures - [school personnel and parents are to be provided with this law]
(2) Notice of specified incidents -
a. School personnel shall promptly notify the principal or principal's designee of:
1. Any use of aversive procedures.
2. Any prohibited use of mechanical restraint.
3. Any use of physical restraint resulting in observable physical injury to a student.
4. Any prohibited use of seclusion or seclusion that exceeds 10 minutes or the amount of time specified on a student's behavior intervention plan.
b. When a principal or principal's designee has personal knowledge or actual notice of any of the events described in this subdivision, the principal or principal's designee shall promptly notify the student's parent or guardian and will provide the name of a school employee the parent or guardian can contact regarding the incident.
(3) As used in subdivision (2) of this subsection, "promptly notify" means by the end of the workday during which the incident occurred when reasonably possible, but in no event later than the end of following workday.
(4) The parent or guardian of the student shall be provided with a written incident report for any incident reported under this section within a reasonable period of time, but in no event later than 30 days after the incident. The written incident report shall include:
a. The date, time of day, location, duration, and description of the incident and interventions.
b. The events or events that led up to the incident.
c. The nature and extent of any injury to the student.
d. The name of a school employee the parent or guardian can contact regarding the incident.
In S.L.'s case, the school failed to provide his parents with the required Notice of the events and failed to "promptly notify the parents that an incident had ocurred."
Parents' Petition for a Due Process Hearing
On April 11, 2019, S.L.’s parents filed a Petition for a Special Education Due Process Hearing, alleging, in part, that:
“… the Wake County Public School System Board of Education violated the procedural and substantive requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the North Carolina special education statutes by inappropriate and unlawful use of mechanical restraint, physical restraint, seclusion, isolation, and aversive procedures by former staff at the high school.”
“WCPSS has repeatedly restrained, isolated, used aversive techniques, and secluded S.L. as a result of his behaviors, although S.L.’s IEP and BIP do not provide for these procedures to be used with S.L.”
“In violation of North Carolina law, the WCPSS has not properly documented these restraints, isolations, and seclusions of S.L., promptly notified S.L.’s parents regarding the incidents, or provided written incident reports to S.L.’s parents.”
In addition to claims about the inadequate IEPs prepared by WCPSS and exclusion of S.L.'s parents from the IEP meeting, the parents' Petition alleged:
“On March 4, 2019, a Southeast Raleigh High School administrator suspended S.L. for one day but did not provide a discipline referral to S.L.’s parents.”
On March 5, 2019, “S.L.’s teacher withheld S.L.’s breakfast and secluded him in the classroom kitchen for the entirety of the day. WCPSS informed S.L.’s mother that S.L. was placed in 'in school suspension' for the day.”
“In retaliation for S.L.’s mother sending S.L. to school on March 5, 2019, the WCPSS provided S.L.’s mother with a Notice … that S.L. would now be suspended for three days — instead one day— due to the same incident on March 4 2019.
“The Notice of Suspension falsely reports that S.L.—a non-verbal student without a communication device—was ‘given an opportunity to respond to the charges by Brent Miller.’”
"On April 1, 2019, S.L.’s foster mother retrieved him from the bus stop. S.L. was unable to walk without limping when he exited the bus. He had bruises on his stomach and limbs.”
"S.L.’s mother took him to the emergency room for care. S.L. has not returned to school since the incident."
Negotiations and Settlement Agreement
After the parents submitted their Petition for a Special Education Hearing on April 11, 2019. On September 18, 2019, the parents and school district entered into a settlement agreement. Read the Settlement Agreement.
Under the agreement, the district did not admit to any wrongdoing. A district spokeman said the school board decided to settle the lawsuit based on guidance from the district’s attorneys to prevent protracted litigation.
Adistrict spokesman claimed that the teacher who was the subject of the allegations of abuse, restraint and seclusion was no longer employed by Wake County.
Parent attorney Galahan learned that the abusive teacher was working as a special ed teacher in a neighboring school district less than 40 miles away.
Ms. Galahan reported, “This news is particularly disturbing to S.L.’s parents as they are concerned the same thing could happen to other children ... S.L.’s parents want the parents of children with disabilities — and other concerned members of the public — to know this happened to their child and the perpetrators are still working in public school systems of North Carolina."
What can be done to protect our vulnerable students?
S.L.'s parents and attorney Stacey Gahagan have given a lot of thought to this question.
There was no camera in S.L.'s classroom. If cameras were installed in self-contained classrooms, administrators would find it harder to ignore complaints from their staff.
Ms. Gahagan explained, “S.L.’s parents firmly believe that placing cameras in the separate classes for students with significant disabilities may prevent, or at least decrease the likelihood, of this type of harm against these students in the future.”
Requiring school districts to put cameras in self-contained classrooms will require action from the state General Assembly. We encourage parents, teachers and advocates to contact their representatives to request a meeting. Don't forget that "One Person is a Fruitcake, 50 People Are a Mighty Organization." There is strength and power in numbers. If you are persistent and collaborate with other parents and organizations, you can make a difference.
We are deeply concerned about the culture of this school.
* Administators refuse to accept reports from staff that a teacher was abusing his vulnerable students.
* Administrators disciplined reporting staff members by investigating or transferring them.
* An abusive teacher re-purposed a storage closet into a seclusion room. He placed vulnerable nonverbal students in that room for hours or entire school days. Surely, administrators were aware of the new seclusion room.
What kind of people ignore these things?
A spokeman for WCPSS claimed that “The district was unaware of the allegations prior to the parent’s petition.”
Since the parents sent emails and photographs to the school principal and to school district administrators, we can't swallow this claim.
* Marcus Campbell, the teacher who abused S.L., is still listed as a special education teacher in the Special Education Department Directory for the Wake County.
Administrators ignored the protocol that required them to report incidents of abuse to the State Dept of Education but assured the parents that they comply with the protocol.
Why did Wake County Public School System administrators ignore staff reports of child abuse, then discipline their staff for reporting the abuse?
Then there is the required protocol about reporting teachers who abuse students to the State Board of Education. The purpose of that protocol is "to ensure teachers who mistreat students, especially those with disabilities, do not end up teaching in another school. -- which is what happened here.
The State Board is tasked with reviewing and investigating abuse allegations and deciding whether to revoke a teacher's license.
But Wake County did not follow the protocol. Because they kept the abuse secret, there was no investigation to determine if this abusive teacher was allowed to keep his license to teach. This is a tougher problem to solve. We will have to rely on those cameras for now.
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