BAD Program so moving}Md.

[Guest guest]

Their house in Berlin on the market and are readying for a move to the Baltimore area.

They're not moving because of a career opportunity. Instead, they're leaving the Shore because they've been unsatisfied with the way their autistic third-grader, Joe, has been treated at Ocean City Elementary School. Joe's mother, Ellen Meyers, said better help can be offered elsewhere.

"Joe needs to be with people who can deal with autistic children, who haven't had just a one-day training program, but people who actually work with children all the time and know how to handle them -- people who are more trained specifically for autistic children," Meyers said.

Last November, Meyers got a call from Ocean City Elementary School's nurse telling her that her Joe had a scratch on his face. Joe had what his mom called a "meltdown," during which she thinks he got the abrasion. She went to pick him up at the end of the day; she didn't want him riding the bus if he was agitated.

She saw his face, which was scratched and red on his right cheek just below the eyebrow. Meyers says one of the school's educational assistants told her Joe was being restrained during an outburst, that he had lost his footing and that another one of the assistants had pinched his face during the event.

Joe told his mother the same story in the car as they drove home -- where they took photos of Joe's wound -- and then to the hospital. Joe repeated the same account later to officials from the Worcester County Sheriff's Office and Child Protective Services, Meyers said.

Since that instance when Meyers picked Joe up from school, she says the educational assistant has denied ever relaying such a story to her, and that school officials have told her flat-out that such an incident never happened. Without an account from the assistant, there are no witnesses to say what had transpired, Meyers said.

Most recently, the land teachers union warned her in writing not to repeat her concerns about the episode to school officials, police or members of the press.

Autism in schools

School district spokeswoman Barbara Witherow said she couldn't comment on the specific case. But Worcester County school leaders say, in general, their classrooms welcome autistic children. At minimum, educators working in Worcester County public schools receive two types of research-based training, according to Witherow. Educators are taught safe behavior management methods and best practices. They're provided with "effective strategies for improving student behavior," and appropriate physical intervention techniques, such as a restraining hold, to help protect the student, educator and others, Witherow wrote in an email.

"We address the special needs of all children so that they may excel ... in a safe and nurturing school environment," Witherow wrote.

It isn't atypical for a family to move in an effort to obtain better care and education for their autistic child, according to Beth Benevides, a board member at the County chapter of the Autism Society.

County's schools have the highest per capita autistic child rate of any county in land because "people do move to counties where there are better services and the staff are better trained," Benevides said, adding the society partners very closely with the school system on issues of mistreatment and countless other matters.

"There isn't a chapter (in Worcester County), so you don't have that level of advocacy," Benevides said. "Our kids have the right to be in school, and (the school systems) need to make it work, and they need to go above and beyond to get a positive environment for them."

Union warning

Meyers was informed in mid-January that no charges were going to be filed after the school board, social workers and police wrapped up investigations. Still unhappy, she posted some photos of her son's wound on Facebook. She also reached out to member of the press to express her frustration.

That got attention from the teachers union, acting as legal counsel for the educational assistant at Ocean City Elementary. A letter addressed to the Meyerses dated Feb. 2 from Kristy , assistant counsel at the land State Education Association, said her attempts to post information on websites and to discuss the allegations in general "may well constitute actionable defamation."

If Meyers kept talking about the incident "to her employer, to the community, to your neighbors, to the news and to others," the letter said, "we will not hesitate even for a moment to pursue all available legal remedies against you."

answered an inquiry about the land State Education Association's letter by saying it's important for parents to be involved in public and private discussions of schools, but that "students are best served when those discussions remain constructive and appropriate at all times."

Meyers remains nonplussed by the letter.

"They can't stop me from saying what I have to say," she said. "My son came home with a mark on his face, and nobody is doing a thing about it."

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