Fw: APS faces lawsuit alleging teacher held 5-year-old 'against her will' in a Rifton Chair

[Guest guest]

Subject: APS faces lawsuit alleging teacher held 5-year-old 'against her will' in a Rifton ChairTo: "Undisclosed List" Date: Saturday, April 4, 2009, 10:34 AM

Strapping our children in rifton type chairs is another form of restraint that parents are finding out is being used (without permission from parents) in the public school system. I have had 4 Florida families contact me in a one month period concerning this type of restraint.

Advocates are working hard trying to get laws in place in many states and also on a Federal level to prohibit prone restraint and forced locked/unlocked seclusion from being used in public schools. Research shows that physical force, mobilization, and isolation are dehumanizing. Seclusion and restraint should no longer be viewed as treatment options but rather as treatment failures because they risk lives and inflict emotional and physical trauma. I will keep you posted as new information is passed to me.

Regards,

Phyllis

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APS faces lawsuit alleging teacher held 5-year-old 'against her will'

http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2009/04/02/news/metro_aurora/doc49d574d52956f785803850.txtBy BRANDON JOHANSSONThe Aurora SentinelPublished: Thursday, April 2, 2009 8:40 PM MDTAURORA | A teacher regularly strapped a developmentally disabled 5-year-old girl to a chair and once refused to release the girl because she "had not been broken yet," according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday against Aurora Public Schools.The suit, filed in United States District Court in Denver, alleges that during the 2006-07 school year, a special-education teacher at Lansing Elementary School regularly restrained the girl "against her will in a mechanical restraint with the use of an

occupational therapy device."The girl is not named in the suit and is referred throughout the 45-page document only as "A.B."Jack , who is representing the family, would not say how much money the family was seeking in the lawsuit, but he said "we believe it's a substantial amount."The suit names APS, the board of education, the teacher, Vicki s, the school's principal, Burke, APS Superintendent Barry as well as a handful of other district staffers as defendants in the suit.According to the suit, the girl was restrained for a variety of reasons when she was in kindergarten in 2006 and 2007, including for running from staffers, not paying attention and being disruptive.*"At Defendant s' direction, the paraprofessionals in the Life Skills Program placed A.B. in the restraint chair on numerous occasions for periods of time varying from a couple of minutes to over sixty minutes,"

the suit alleges.On one occasion, during which the girl was restrained for about 25 minutes, one of the paraprofessionals asked if she could be released and s said she could not because she "had not been broken yet," according to the suit. s resigned from the district at the end of the 2006-07 school year, according to district records. A phone number for a Vicki s in Denver did not work Thursday afternoon.A study of the case by the Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People, found that "staff engaged in a pattern and practice of improper use of restraint and seclusion."A spokeswoman from Aurora Public Schools said the legal center approved of the steps the school district has taken since the incident."Given that this matter is in litigation, we are unable to talk about the details of the case. We would like to emphasize, however, that the Legal Center for Persons with Disabilities,

after undertaking a thorough review of the matter, was satisfied with the steps we have taken," the district said in a statement. said when the girl's family found out about the restraint in 2007 the mother home schooled her for the rest of the year.The next year the girl attended Fletcher Elementary School, said. For the first few weeks of the school year, the girl's mother accompanied her to class and sat outside until she was comfortable enough to leave the girl with teachers.The family moved after the 2007-2008 school year and the girl now attends school in the Cherry Creek Schools District, said."She is not having any behavioral problems, and is able to begin to learn," he said..