Who Will Care About Our Children Once EducRAT$ Cleanse
ALTHOUGH IT IS OVERWHELMING TO FOLLOW THESE DETAILS, OUR OBJECTIVE HERE IS NOT IN THE DETAILS, BUT IN POINTING OUT THE GAME BEING PLAYED HERE. AS YOU READ THROUGH HER STORY, MOST OF WHICH IS TOLD VIA HER LETTER, THE LACK OF GOOD TEACHERS COMES THROUGH AS WHY THIS IS HAPPENING. THIS IS A MAN-MADE OR EDUCRAT- MADE LACK THAT SUITS WHITE CHALK CRIME, NOT OUR CHILDREN. FURTHERMORE, NOTE THE MISSING REPORTS. THIS IS WHITE CHALK CRIME; AS SOON AS IT IS SPOKEN IT ERASES AS EASILY AS CHALK. NAPTA
Phyllis Musumeci, a mom from Palm Beach County, Florida, is working “with 10 other families who have children with disabilities that have all been restrained or put in seclusion in the public school system.” She said: “Most of us have had to pull our children out of school to keep them safe. We have tried to work with the local school, school district and the FLDOE [Department of Education] with NO luck at all. She and her husband sent an email to Florida’s Governor Crist and “called and talked to staff 3 times. All his office did was forward it to the Florida Department of Education who did nothing but email me back with a bunch of words and a ‘Thank You.’ You would have thought I was talking about used cars not abused children.” Excerpts from that letter are below:
Dear Governor Crist,
This is the third time we are writing to you asking for help. The first time I received an email telling me to contact an attorney, the second time I received an email stating "Unfortunately, it is not possible to add this commitment to Governor Crist's schedule. We hope that you will understand the limitations on his schedule" I am hoping that this time my email will reach someone that will take the time to listen to parents that are crying out for help to keep their children safe.
There are many Florida families who have children with Autism and Pervasive Development Disorders that are being restrained and put in seclusion in the public school system. Our children are being abused physical and mentally because of their disabilities and the lack of appropriate programs (public and private) and highly qualified teachers available to educate them. Many parents are so frustrated with the way their children are treated in public schools that they are turning to the school Hospital Homebound programs to keep their children safe yet still be able to receive some education. The average time allowed for Hospital Homebound is approximately 3-5 hours a week which is not even close to a normal school week.
Our children are coming home injured physically and mentally and there is nothing parents can do about it. No laws, no regulations, no tracking, no consent from parents and no parent notification in many cases. The current system allows the FLDOE and every school district to be their own police force for the documents they have created and the lack of documents that have not been created.
We pulled our son out of Lantana Middle school in Palm Beach County 2 years ago because we thought he was having a breakdown. He started out with small behavior problems, but by the time the school system was done with him his behaviors had escalated to the point we had to seek psychiatric help for him and he was put on medication. A year after we pulled him out of school we were shocked to find out how many times he had been restrained over a 12 month period. We believe that the actual PCM restraint numbers are higher because the 6th grade PCM restraint logs are missing from the school files. We do not understand how the Principal of the school who is responsible for the safety of all students could have allowed this to go on for so long. When we filed a complaint with the FLDOE they found no fault with the school district for anything they did. The school even went as far as lying to the FLDOE by telling them that "School staff had demonstrated PCM restraints on me. This never happened. I couldn't believe I was reading this. After being out of school for 2 years the Palm Beach County school district said they found the perfect ESE teacher and class for our son. On the second day attending Royal Palm school he had a meltdown. When I arrived to pick him up I was approached by his ESE teacher who told me that my son was an animal and should be on medication. So much for the perfect teacher and perfect class. He is now out of school again and falling through the cracks of the Florida education system again. Filing a complaint with the FLDOE has turned out to be a broken process and a waste of time for us and many other parents I have talked to.
Below is the restraint information that we are aware of documented from the PCM logs and incident reports covering a 12 month period of 7th and 8th grades 2005 & 06. We were told that the PCM Restraint logs from 6th grade are missing so we are sure there were many more restraints not documented in 6th 7th and 8th grade. How can the PCM Restraint logs for 6th grade be missing?
Prone restraint = 23; TEAM 2 person takedown = 2 (I was told by school district staff Pam Tepsic that TEAM was never used on children with disabilities) ; Vertical restraint = 17; Wrist tricep = 18; TEAM 2 person elbow control = 2; One arm wrap around restraint = 2; Sunday stroll = 13; De-escalation Techniques = 6 ( We don't know what this is or what the staff used because it is not documented on the form they sent me); Unknown = 1 (No documentation); 6th Grade PCM logs = Log records are missing from the school; Seclusion time for 7th grade = Never documented by the school. At lease 50% of the time I picked him up at the end of the school day his desk had been pulled out into the hall and he was all alone with no 1:1 and no work. The short time he was in 8th grade it was the same thing.
On April 27, 2007, the Palm Beach county ESE Advisory Committee formally requested public information for the past 3 school years on Restraints and Baker Acts. On August 29th after numerous requests the ESE Advisory Committee received the restraint numbers for 1 month (May 2007) not 3 years like we requested on 12 out 163 schools. We were told that the district was not allowed to send the committee the Baker Act information even though we were not requesting any student names. I did locate information from another source that stated there were 181 Baker Acts documented over a period of 13 months on school students. The document does not identify if students are regular or special. Attached are both documents.
Almost everyday I talk to another distraught family that has just discovered that their child is being restrained and put in seclusion because of their disability. So many parents have told me how their child's behaviors have escalated, depression and anxiety has increased, sleep problems and afraid to go to school. And what about the children who are nonverbal who can't even go home and tell their parents what happened to them. Restraint and Seclusion is not a treatment, it's a failure of treatment and our children will never be able to succeed in life with this kind of behavior treatment in the public school system.
State hospitals and Mental Health organizations are working towards reducing and eliminating restraint and seclusion. Why aren't public schools doing the same thing? State Hospitals, Residential homes and group homes have laws and tracking systems they must follow. Why are there are no laws or tracking system in place for Florida public schools to follow?
There are 5 families, The Florida Protection and Advocacy Center and a NAMI representative that would like to meet with you regarding the issues of the over use and unnecessary use of restraint and seclusion on children with disabilities in the public school system. We would like to request your help and support in creating strict state regulations and a monitoring system with parent involvement. We would also like to request your help and support in implementing Florida's Positive Behavior Support Project http://flpbs.fmhi.usf.edu/whatispbs_def.asp in every school district in Florida. The goal of group is to reduce and ultimately eliminate restraint and seclusion on all children with disabilities in the public school system.
Below are a few stories from other parents I am in contact with and a few news articles for you to read. What happened to our son is not an isolated incident.
Regards,
Phyllis and Gianni Musumeci, Palm Beach County, Florida
Families Against Restraint and Seclusion
THE PARENT INCLUDED EXCERPTS FROM EACH OF THE TEN STUDENTS’ STORIES AS WELL AS NEWSPAPER ARTICLES OR LINKS TO AT LEAST TEN ARTICLES VERIFYING THESE DILEMMAS. WHITE CHALK CRIMINALS CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH ANY OF OUR CHILDREN, MUCH LESS THESE DISABLED CHILDREN. ALTHOUGH A RESTRAINT IN THE HANDS OF A LOVING PERSON MIGHT BE NECESSITATED, A RESTRAINT IN THE HANDS OF A WHITE CHALK CRIMINAL IS UNCONSCIONABLE. GOVERNOR CRIST MIGHT CLAIM TO BE UNAWARE OF WHITE CHALK CRIME. HOWEVER, HE IS NOT UNAWARE OF TEACHER ABUSE SINCE WE KNOW OF MANY MEMBERS WHO HAVE CONTACTED HIM INCLUDING JANICE HOWES, WHO FORWARDED HER BOOK TO EVERY GOVERNOR. IT IS UNACCEPTABLE TO CONDONE A SYSTEM WHERE DEDICATED TEACHERS ARE ABUSED OUT OF IT, LEAVING LESS COMPASSIONATE TYPES TO HANDLE CHILDREN WHO REQUIRE UNLIMITED COMPASSION; THIS NEGLIGENCE IS WHITE CHALK CRIME AS WELL. EVEN WITHOUT A NAME, WHAT IS GOING ON IN OUR SCHOOLS IS OBVIOUS TO THOSE WHO PUT PRINCIPLES OVER POLITICS. THE PROBLEM IS WHERE ARE THESE TYPES? TAKE A LOOK AT EACH OF THESE UNFORTUNATE FAMILIES CRYING OUT FOR HELP. NAPTA
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2007 To my great dismay, completely unlike the nurturing experience in her previous school, almost as soon as she began attending Royal Palm Angelina was on a daily basis either threatened with or physically brought to the time-out seclusion room. Some of these incidents I was told about, others I was not. The time-out room was not only used as a threat but Angelina was put there as punishment when she was unable to follow directions, not feeling well, threw papers off her desk, and ran off school grounds because another student hit her. (I have documentation of these in writing.) I respectfully called for meetings with the staff to address these issues. I told them I did not want Angelina to ever again be in time-out unless she actually was going to cause harm to herself or someone else. They agreed to this and to my knowledge did not put her in the time-out seclusion room again. I will never understand why they think it's alright to punish mentally ill children for their disabilities. I feel as if I've gone back 100 years in time when I compare the education Angelina has received here so far, compared to the knowledge and commitment of the school she attended. Tuesday Lee County, Florida
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2007 My son has suffered 4 restrainings in a month & a half period. The last one was so severe they caused a cervical strain, busted lip, bleeding under the skin on his arms torso, face, neck/shoulder area and almost suffocated him. The force was so excessive that they imprinted his polo shirt into his body. I have filed 3 police reports and made 3 reports to DCF. My son was 7 and weighed 52lbs when the restrainings started. If my son wasn't visibly injured I may never have known the school had no intention on contacting me on a few of the restrainings. The county I live in is working off of a 12 year old behavior policy that involves barbaric adversives on disabled children. I did a public records search on the Behavior analyst that injured my son on 4/07 and it turns out he has at least 3 DUI charges in his background one as recent as 7/07. How ironic a Behavior Analyst who can't control his own behavior????? There are no regulations on these matters and it is hard to hold anyone accountable. It almost seems as though no one cares. Anna Port St Lucie, Florida
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2007 My 7 daughter Caitlin has Autism and has been restrained many times in public school for the past year. All this did was make her more aggressive but they would not listen to me. We finely had to take her out of school to keep her safe from these people that were supposed to be helping her. I turned to so many organizations to help me I've lost track of the count. Not one of them helped us and we don't know where to turn for help. Kellie, Lee County, Florida
LINKS TO RELATED ARTICLES:
Cape Coral Daily Breeze 09/13/07 Parent feels intimidated by school board | WINK-TV - Fort Myers, FL | Eye on Education 09/12/07 News article and video; The News-Press, news-press.com, Education, Special needs to get audit 09/12/2007; Two opposing sides debate Lee County's ESE programs | BonitaNews.com 09/11/2007; The News-Press, news-press.com, SS: Children's Resource Center, Lee's lack of special-needs options vexes parents 09/09/2007; School Board hears about handling of autistic child case 08/28/2007; WINK-TV - Eye on Education - Video - EXCLUSIVE: Time-Out Rooms.
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2006 I saw that you requested families who have difficulties with restraint and safety issues regarding their child in ESE. I have a 13 year old son with Down syndrome who is staffed into a TMH class with one teacher and one assistant. The program was totally inappropriate for him (or for TMH students in general) and he became a behavior problem in the fall. In addition, there were safety issues for him (elopement) and for the students and teachers (he threw classroom items). Now the school wants me to sign a release to allow CPI (Crisis Prevention Intervention), which, I understand is in essence physical restraint. I have many concerns about this, and how it will be used. I live in Brevard County, Florida.
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2006 Ian is in 2nd grade. We are in Lee County. He is in a school for SED students. Per his IEP he is to have a safe place to go to calm down. They use a normal timeout room for this even though his therapist said this was not appropriate. If Ian becomes aggressive because of failure to intervene he is placed in a quiet room. It is the size of a closet with only a window for light. Ian is scared to death of the dark and being alone. At previous schools the staff was not trained in restraint and they restrained him causing bruises. Heather Lee County, Florida
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2007 It was during this meeting that she let it slip that my son was restrained in a "hot dog roll." I had to ask what that was...I could imagine, but I wanted to hear it. They rolled him up in blankets, like a hot dog...thus, the name. I couldn't imagine my son liking that AT ALL because he never liked to even be swaddled as a baby. I said this and they claimed they did it in fun and he liked it. I don't think so...that's when we started noticing the odd reactions to blankets and towels. But, since it wasn't in writing, only said verbally -- the school would deny or ignore it when I brought it up. I sent a letter detailing the meeting and the points on which we could not come to an agreement. Two months later, I got a response. Basically, it said that although our objection to the "calm room" was noted, because they did not feel it was being used in a punitive manner, they would continue to use it whenever they felt it necessary despite our written insistence not to do that. Lily
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2007 I have a 7 year old down syndrome/autism child whom the school has been restraining in a chair for time out. I saw one incident last school year of this and questioned these methods. By a staff member's own admittance, it is happening again this year. This very much needs to be stopped. My daughter cannot talk and therefore, cannot tell me anything about it. You wind up sending your child to school and never knowing what is happening to them. I feel this is cruel and inhuman treatment. Special needs children are humans and should not be treated like animals. Kim
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2006 & 2007 We are very much AGAINST the physical restraint and seclusion practices used with our son Mark and any other disabled child. We recently got a back dated FBA with goals and information that we disapproved. Mark's IEP was changed so that the behavior specialists could continue to physically restrain him and remove him from class based on the "safety of other students and his teachers and staff." We told them that Mark was being improperly handled and that they "had created their own monster" by not understanding the manifestations of Autism and a child who has Sensory Integration Dysfunction, a Sensory Auditory Disorder, and organic brain damage. This also fell on deaf ears. Kathy Pasco County Florida
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2007 My son came home from school, laid on the floor, crossed his arms and asked me to grab his ankles on the floor. He told me - "tell them to stop doing this to me at school". Thank goodness Benjamin can descriptively talk enough to say when his school work is too hard, he wants to "breathe outside". When he tries to leave the room, the teachers lock the door and "yell" at him and Ben tries to push his way out. That escalates into more fear and Ben shoves or strikes at them. Ben is then dragged to the ground and put into a "physical restraint" position - for at least 2 days in a row now. He says that the visiting Area ESE Specialist, from his old school told the teachers (in front of him) to restrain him. Ben also tells me he has trouble breathing (which I told Mary Ann Parks just this week, he has recently been complaining of) in overstressed school situations, and in these situations. Unfortunately, I have had to research in a short time "physical restraints" - and nothing about what HCSD is doing is right. Ben has had escalated autism related issues all year, and no one should be surprised that he needs intensive, specialized direct behavioral supports - not physical restraints as a therapeutic intervention. Not only have I never given the school permission for physical restraint and was not notified (thank God Ben can talk - or I may have never been told at all), but the issue nationwide has caused fatalities. This is yet another attempt for the school to avoid appropriate Behavioral Therapy services at any costs. This is an OCR violation - and should stop immediately. Suzette Mother of 10 year old student with High Functioning Autism)
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9/2007 My son has been in school for less than three full weeks, and so far has been restrained twice. I know the school does not use CPI restraint as a "last resort." The teacher said, "He was getting closer to where the other children were, so rather than empty the room, we decided to use our CPI training and restrain him." Joni
ARTICLES INCLUDED:
Elementary school behavior technician fired in Fort Pierce By Keona Gardner (Contact, Friday, August 31, 2007
FORT PIERCE — “A Garden City Elementary School aide, who allegedly broke the arm of a special education student early this year, is no longer on the district's payroll. Earlier this week, district officials fired Shalonda Smith, who worked as a behavior technician, for using inappropriate discipline. No criminal charges will be filed against Smith, according to school district records.”
#1 Posted by bonniez on August 31, 2007 at 7:08 a.m. No criminal charges will be filed against Smith, according to school district records! And why not? What makes this any different than a child being abused by his or her parent? If this lady gets off without any charges then there is something drastically WRONG with the system. This lady does not deserve a slap of the wrist. She broke a student’s arm, that clearly is abuse. If this was a parent doing the same exact thing you can bet your behind that they would've been reported for child abuse and arrested on the spot! AP Police Arrest 6-Year-Old Girl
#2 Posted by jamoore1 on August 31, 2007 at 2:30 p.m. This is not an isolated incident it's just the only one in the paper. Im a PSL parent and my child on the Autism Spectrum was brutally restrained & injured by a behavior analyst also. I have filed 3 police reports & unless you can prove "intent" they can do whatever they want to your child and not be held accountable.
http://www.news- press.com/ apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=200770829039 4
Autistic students manhandled, parents say Issues aired at school board meeting By Jason Wermers
jwermers@news- press.com, Originally posted on August 29, 2007
“… an 8-year-old with autism, was placed in a brick-walled time-out room and manhandled several times by staff at Pelican and Trafalgar elementary schools, her parents told the Lee County Florida School Board Tuesday evening. Kellie Elders, held up photographs of her daughter's bruised forehead for board members, district staff and media members to see. She said Caitlyn sustained those bruises after she banged her head against the brick wall, an action that is not unknown for children with autism who feel distressed.”
By Joe Seelig of Highlands Today
Published: March 31, 2007
AVON PARK Florida — A 6-year-old girl was in the custody of her mother Friday after the Avon Park Police Department escorted the girl in handcuffs from Avon Elementary School to the Highlands County Jail on charges relating to battery of a school employee.
**Associated Press http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/16497980.htm**
*SANFORD, Florida - *Five severely autistic teenagers must testify against a teacher charged with abusing them, a judge has ruled…. Garrett was arrested in November 2004 on charges that she abused autistic students in her class at South Seminole Middle School in Casselberry, even chipping one boy's teeth by slamming his face into a desk. …Other allegations include beating children, humiliating them, pushing one's face into vomit and disciplining some behind closed bathroom doors, where screaming and sounds of furniture banging around could be heard.”
'Body sox' used for restraint against Florida 4-year-olds
Posted Dec 14th 2006 School officials in Florida are using a highly unusual -- and now controversial -- method to calm students that are upset. It's called a "body sock," and a teacher in Pinellas County has reportedly been using them to restrain unruly students.
Parent Says School Misuses its Timeout Room, October 13, 2005
The punishment is considered so harsh the state urges it be used only as a last resort. It's called "secured seclusion" and allows teachers to confine children, many of whom suffer from severe emotional problems, in tiny, sealed rooms. Just one school in Hernando County currently uses a timeout room for isolating troubled kids. The small space at Deltona Elementary can be shut with an electromagnetic lock. …Trueman, who lives in Spring Hill, knows how difficult it is for teachers to educate kids with severe emotional problems. "I do feel bad for the teachers," Trueman said. "It is a tough job, and I think the county needs to start spending the money for these kids." But she's tired of watching her son regress academically, of watching him come home with bruises, or soiled clothes, or little new knowledge, and of knowing he spends a chunk of many school days locked in the secured seclusion room. "It's been the same problems for years," she said. "They keep giving me the runaround."
Death after death from restraint---where is the outrage? When will it end?
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/151346.html
A grieving mother wants to know why her disabled 12-year-old son died in a group-home van.
FEEL FREE TO CONTACT THIS WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THESE ARTICLES OR TO JOIN HER GROUP. NAPTA
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