s/o Autistic student bullied by teacher - entire class abused by special ed teacher

[Alphabetika]

Here's a link to an article about a local special-ed teacher who is under investigation for abusing his students. One of the students in his class (not any of the ones mentioned in the article) is the son of one of my best friends. This has been an agonizing situation for all involved, especially as the trail of silence and secrecy continues to be unraveled. What is reported in the article tells only part of the story of what this man did to his students, including tailoring his abuse to the specific disability (such as in the example of him singing to an autistic girl who was terrified of hearing singing).

 

My friend homeschools her two older kids and thankfully now has her son at another local public school, in a special needs class that is wonderful for him. Please hope and pray with me that justice is served in this case. So far, the people in power are not very cooperative. If they had been in the first place, the abuse would not have gone as far as it did. I got my friend's permission before posting this, and I'm doing so to raise awareness of a situation that seems to be appearing in the news more and more.

 

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

 

http://www.ocregister.com/news/lentini-350389-engler-james.html

Edited April 24, 2012 by Alphabetika

[5knights3maidens]

Here is one in New Jersey also. The father has it all recorded.

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/nj-father-records-teachers-bullying-his-autistic-child

[laundrycrisis]

Disgusting.

[Alphabetika]

Here is one in New Jersey also. The father has it all recorded.

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/nj-father-records-teachers-bullying-his-autistic-child

 

Thanks for posting this. It was reading a thread here about this case that prompted me to post about our local case. There was a very big case recently in another town near us, and the lawyer in that case is the one that some of the families in this case have retained.

[pdalley]

:grouphug: to your friend. This occurs much more than people would like to think and the cover up is rampant.

 

I made DH promise again last night to never send our kids back to the local public schools because of stuff like this if the unthinkable happens and we have made plans to that end. (This is based on our prior experience with them.)

[Stacy in NJ]

in at least every special needs classroom if not every classroom. But actually I do know why we don't. Because the unions would never allow that level of accountability.

 

I'm so sorry for your friend's family.

[SonshineLearner]

Crazy and with no excuse! :( It wouldn't be a job I'd want, but even if I got the job through some weird means, you just don't treat an animal like that... let alone a child.

[Alphabetika]

:grouphug: to your friend. This occurs much more than people would like to think and the cover up is rampant.

 

I made DH promise again last night to never send our kids back to the local public schools because of stuff like this if the unthinkable happens and we have made plans to that end. (This is based on our prior experience with them.)

 

This has been the part that's amazed me most as I've walked through this case with my friend. The level of secrecy and outright lying that's occurred in order to protect this man. No one on this side of it can figure out what the incentive would be to do that. Except to keep your school from looking bad in some sense, but how could professionals in the education field consider that above the safety of children? I guess I'm mighty naive, because it's been deeply shocking and sad to me to see how this has played out. It's not over, of course, but so much has happened so far that it's hard not to become more and more jaded. This is a man who targeted the most disabled and least verbal of his students for the worst abuse (although everyone in the class suffered), documented by more than one teacher's aide, and he's now on PAID LEAVE after it took months even to get the case this far. Boggles my mind and breaks my heart for the kids, parents, and honest professionals involved.

[hsbaby]

Cases like this do not shock me anymore. My dd was in public school for K. She is Autistic and was in a special needs class. At the time, a major thing we struggled with was her tendency to wander off. The school and teacher were WELL aware of this. Yet, I came to discover that dd was sent outside of her portable classroom by herself when she acted up. She was supposed to sit next to the door (which was closed) with NO supervision. Thank God she never wandered away, but I was furious. This is just one instance of total neglect for her needs we experienced. PS was a nightmare as a parent of a special needs child:(

[clarkacademy]

Well I just don't even know what to say. This is horrible, terrible I mean there is just no words. The teacher should get down and thank God though. If it were my son it would not have been handled like this. I would have plastered that all over with his name and his address. I would have rallied outside his home and work place for the rest of his life. That would not have been a long life either I know from past expierence my sons father takes this none too calmly and has already freaked out on a school over him.

 

People like this should be locked away from kids.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I just read the article and watched the video about the New Jersey man. That is what I thought this thread was about. I am going to wait a bit before I read the article you, OP, posted. My 7 year old is autistic and this hit me hard. I can not imagine how this father waited days to contact them. I found the website for the school. I am planning on sending an email. Anybody else who wants to support this child here is the site. The principals email is right on there. I didn't see the first thread, could somebody link it please?

[swellmomma]

I am not surprised by the covering up. When ds13 went missing for 2 hours from his Kindy class the school did all it could to cover it's tracks and at first tried to simply not tell me and when I found out denied it and then changed it's story multiple times. And that was just for the sub teaching the class. I imagine it would be worse when it comes to their fulltime staff.

 

All of these stories are despicable. And one more reason for me to never send my special needs kids to ps.