Fifth grade autistic boy charged with a felony

[tonysam]

Carole Reynolds is desperate to help her eleven year old autistic grandson, Zakhqurey Price, who has been charged with multiple counts of felonious assault against two school district employees. The school is Beard Elementary in Fort Smith School District, Arkansas.

Reynolds says, "On August 18th, my 11 year old grandson started the school year, and we requested an evaluation be done as he was returning from another district that recommended he have an aide with him at all times. We tried to get an IEP together before school started in July and were refused and told to wait until school started."

Reynolds has been refused access to Zakh's records in spite of repeated requests. She said, "We have made requests to receive a copy of his evaluation/assessment results before the October 15th temporary placement IEP meeting and were refused because they said it was not allowed by state law."

"On October 15th, a temporary placement (Individual Education Plan) IEP meeting was held to start services because we felt they were not considering his previous tests or recommendations of Habberton House". Habberton House is a residential placement of the Ozark Guidance and Counseling center of Springdale Arkansas. The staff at Habberton felt that Zakh needed a full time aide, but none was offered. Even when the family specifically requested the aide at the IEP, the Beard school staff denied it.

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Even if one tenth of this story is true, the school district is in deep, deep, deep doo-doo.

More here and here

[HuckleB]

1. The threat of such charges was used by schools in Oregon back in the '90s.

The school's failure to put an IEP in place leaves them in a very precarious position, both with the family and the district employees.

[tonysam]

2. This stuff is a landmine for lawsuits

It's little wonder few teachers stick it out in the field, and they are also pressured by principals to break the law, as yours truly can attest.

[bluestateguy]

3. He should not be charged with felonies

He needs to be made to understand that such behavior is not acceptable, but criminal charges do not seem warranted to me at this time.

[tonysam]

4. These kids aren't even supposed to be suspended from school

if the behaviors are effects of their disabilities.

The district is in so much trouble if even a portion of the grandparent's allegations is true.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Actually

Yes they can be suspended at any time. We have to determine whether the behavior was due to the disability and adjust services.

[tonysam]

6. That's what I meant about the behavior being due to the disability.

Of course any kid can be suspended; hell, the sped kid in the case I PM'd you about was kept out of school--not suspended, and not for his disability--for eight weeks while he was being tutored four times a week by a classroom teacher.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Once they are suspended for 11 days

The sped dept has to provide homebound services. And those are expensive. So the principals tell the teachers they can't suspend the sped kids. That's easier than telling them the truth.

:banghead:

[tonysam]

10. Yeah, it's weasel words.

What infuriates me so much about the case I PM'd you about is this kid and his parents were treated so badly by the district and the police. He was home taught until the case was resolved and then brought back to school.

It really bothers me because the case I wrote you about was not at all the way it was publicized as being.

[tonysam]

7. Here is a discussion of Arkansas law

link

Snip:

Zakh’s current home-school placement resulted from a disciplinary removal and he has been suspended for 12 school days this year. This constitutes as a change of placement pursuant to Arkansas regulations. This makes the need for a functional behavioral analysis mandatory at this point.

If an FBA was conducted previously but failed to result in a positive behavior intervention plan, then the family could disagree with the district's FBA and ask for an Independent Educational Evaluation ("IEE") in the area of behavior as a corrective remedy. Clearly any assessment of his behavior performed failed to result in a legitimate offer of FAPE since it failed to produce a positive behavior intervention plan. It's more likely, however, that the FBA hadn't been done. If it remains outstanding, then the family may be stuck with a District assessment at this point, though it’s long overdue if so.

The fact that this family has a court date on January 12, 2010 on the felony assault charges means the charges obviously haven't been dropped and Fort Smith schools are prosecuting handicapped children for manifesting the symptoms of their handicapping conditions rather than providing them with a FAPE. What is more, in addition to the claims that this family most likely has under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), they probably have actionable claims under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 for discrimination on the basis of handicapping conditions. While the IDEA claims can only pursue remedy in the form of special education services, the 504 claims can pursue monetary damages.

I wouldn't want to be the school staff right now.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. If they hadn't already done a FBA

they are up shit crick.

[tonysam]

11. And I'll bet they didn't.

It doesn't appear like they really did a damned thing for this kid. I usually reserve judgment when parents make public allegations against school districts, because I know only too well a lot of those stories are bullshit even as I make public allegations against my old school district because I KNOW what I say isn't bullshit, but I don't think this story is.

It looks like the insurance company is going to have to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to this family.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. We lose these kinds of cases all the time

over paperwork.

It's scary how careful we have to be.

[tonysam]

13. That's why school districts have insurance companies

Very few of these cases ever go to trial; they are settled instead.

Of course, settlement isn't the same thing as admission of guilt.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. He's not in trouble because he didn't have an IEP

He's in trouble because he assaulted the principal and tried to destroy his classroom.

The question I ask those who believe this child's behavior should be excused is would you want YOUR child in a classroom with this violent child?

[tonysam]

15. That's the deal.

The trouble with these kinds of stories, as you well know, is we get just one side of it. The district typically doesn't say anything.

The lack of an IEP, etc. IS a problem for the district, if true. That doesn't change the assault story.

In any case, this story has the autism groups and bloggers up in arms.

[KPS4Parents]

16. Beg to differ

He didn't assault his teacher or try to destroy his classroom. He was supposed to go to a designated area when he became overwhelmed to take a sensory break, which is what he tried to do, but the teacher and principal followed him into the area and hovered over him, which prevented him from actually receiving a break from sensory input and de-escalating. They actually escalated his behavior. Rather than back off and give his sensory system a break, when it became evident that he was escalating, they made it even worse and grabbed him. Then he freaked out.

Many children with autism have sensory-integration problems. All the data coming into the brain from all the senses comes in at once. In a brain without sensory integration problems, all that data gets properly routed to the processing centers of the brain where it all needs to go. Auditory input goes to the auditory processing centers. Visual input goes to the visual processing centers. Proprioceptive, kinesthetic, and vestibular input goes into the parts of the brain that process motor planning, balance & equilibrium, orientation within a space, etc. But, a brain with impaired sensory processing functioning experiences log-jams when too much data comes in at once. This is very common development with autism. Children with these types of issues need time away from stimulating environments for their brains to clear through the log-jams.

That's what Zakh was attempting to do when he took the sensory break, but staff didn't allow him to actually experience a break from sensory input. By hovering over him and talking to him, they were only feeding more data into his sensory system and making the problem worse. This is a text-book case of what not to do. If they had truly understood (or cared about) what was going on with him, they would have backed off, given him a quiet place to churn through all the information in his head until he got it all sorted out, and allowed him to become self-regulated again. Instead, they pounced on him, which added even more inbound data to his sensory system and he had a tactile defensive response. The whole incident played out in a corner of the room partitioned-off by a bookcase.

Anybody who knows anything about autism and sensory integration problems (both of which he has, according to his assessment reports, which I've read) would have seen this coming from a mile away. This entire situation could have been avoided if he had been given an appropriate IEP, including a behavior intervention plan, and his staff had been trained on how to respond to his needs. The District is entirely at fault.

[tonysam]

17. I am not discounting your post, but this is only one side of the story.

In your lengthy blog post, which I linked to, you presume the family's charges are true. We really don't know that. The district isn't saying anything; they don't in these matters.

Most of us posting on this forum are teachers or former teachers, and we know all about autism.

What I want to know is whether this kid was in a regular classroom or a self-contained sped classroom. I know in my school district, there are special programs for autistics, but they are what I would term the classic cases of autistics, not Asperger's or other high-functioning autistics. There are also self-contained classes for students with behavior or conduct disorders (called SIP out here).

I get NO information from all of the articles I have read what the placement of this kid is.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. Well the family is claiming there was no IEP

If that's true, he wouldn't have been in a self-contained room.

But they are also talking about an IEP conference they attended.

So it's all pretty confusing.

[KPS4Parents]

26. Source of info

The family provided me with copies of his most recent IEPs and addenda, assessment reports, etc. He wasn't on an IEP until Oct 2009. He was unlawfully exited by the District about 3 years prior to that from SpEd so he could be placed in a Medicaid funded facility that doesn't provide autism intervention, but was sold to the family as a solution nonetheless. Once there, he significantly regressed. The District put him back in gen ed upon his return to the District and only called an IEP meeting after the family had been asking for one for months when his frustration over trying to tackle grade-level materials and his autism-related issues finally provoked enough behavior for the District to agree to call an IEP meeting. He was in a special ed class when he was ultimately arrested, but he wasn't getting appropriate services, his goals were garbage, and he had no behavior intervention plan.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Oh so in the interview posted on the internet, his grandmother lied?

She offered his explanation for why he kicked the principal and tore up the classroom.

That is assault. The definition doesn't change because the one doing the assaulting is disabled.

I'm not saying the district is blameless. And I doubt they will emerge from this without having to pay a hefty settlement to this family.

My question remains - do parents want their children in class with a child who is this violent? It's easy to build up sympathy for this child. But what about the other kids in his class who had to witness this?

A child prone to this kind of violence does not belong in a general education setting. And his family bears a responsibility in getting him the medical help he is so obviously crying out for. You can't blame the school for that.

[tonysam]

20. The whole reason the case was even mentioned was because of the alleged assault

Yep, and people DO tend to forget the other kids ALSO have rights.

We really don't have all of the story, and the district and its staff are not going to say one thing because of the legal issues. We are going to keep getting only one side of the story.

[Pithlet]

21. We may not have all the story

But the fact that felony charges were pressed, combined with the fact that the disctrict dropped the ball with the IEP says enough.

[tonysam]

25. Felony charges were pressed against the kid,

but we don't know what the IEP says, just one claim from a poster who claims to have seen it, which raises confidentiality questions right there.

Don't fucking assume teachers are always wrong. They can be easily sued for all kinds of phony reasons, as yours truly can attest.

[Pithlet]

22. Some of the teachers on DU always think they know everything about it with stories like this.

The district dropped the ball. It could have been entirely avoided. And the fact he's been charged with a felony is just beyond disgraceful.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. And some DUers are always around to automatically blame the school

As usual, we have only one side of the story and that is enough to come to a conclusion for the school/teacher bashers. :eyes:

[tonysam]

24. The thing is, you don't KNOW the district "dropped the ball"

because the district is precluded by their lawyers from saying anything.

We have only ONE side of this story, and it ain't necessarily the truth.