WHAT CAN an unarmed 8-year-old girl, who is autistic, do to warrant her school teachers and principal having police arrest her, charge her with battery, put her in handcuffs, haul her off in a police car and jail her?
In January, the staff at Kootenai Elementary School in Sandpoint, Idaho, claimed she spit on and inappropriately touched two teachers. Little Evelyn Towry, a third-grader with Asperger's syndrome, was handcuffed by police and taken to the county's juvenile lockup, where she was released to her parents. Later the county prosecutor dropped the battery charge against the 8 year old.
WHO REALLY DID THE BATTERING?
What transpired in this elementary classroom that created such a disturbance? Something unbelievably horrible -- the little girl wanted to wear her favorite jacket. And, by God, the teachers weren't going to allow that! How important was getting that little jacket off of the 54-pound child? What, the end of the world was going to come sooner? And just who was it that was out-of-control to allow things to escalate? Wasn't there even one other adult around to say: "Whoa! Calm down, you are the adults, the teachers, not the disabled child."
TEACHERS HELD HER DOWN AND BRUISED HER
The teachers physically restrained the child to the point of causing bruises, said Evelyn's mother. Her father videotaped those thumb-sized bruises found on his daughter's legs after teachers held down both her arms and legs. They isolated her in a room separated from the other children who were having a big Christmas party, to which they wouldn't let Evelyn attend because she would not take off that jacket. Her parents said that she was tormented by memories of the incident, reported ABC News.
What is the matter with some of our teachers and the school boards who employ them?
I see them with angry red faces, bulging neck veins and a desire to severely punish children who don't mind them. Patience? They have little. Do they even like the children supposedly under their protective wings? It doesn't seem like it. I don't picture them with protective wings either. Their responses are becoming so disproportionate to supposed misbehavior, so arrogant before the challenges they face, that it is simply abusive.
ABUSIVE TEACHERS, SCHOOLS
It's true, abuse is abuse. However, Steve Kuusisto, from the blog Planet of the Blind and who describes the 8 year old's ordeal as "appalling," also suggests some explanation:
"...our public schools are one vast unfunded mandate where children with disabilities are concerned. This fact doesn't excuse the mishandling of Evelyn Towry's situation but it explains how such an inexcusable and dehumanizing event can occur. Teachers don't have enough classroom support or special education training; administrators, who have little or no ability to fund anything, imagine that the police are the only resort."
Asperger's syndrome is a milder and higher-functioning form of autism, with symptoms similar to what we identify as autism, including difficulty identifying and expressing feelings and a need for structure. It is classified as a disability, which means kids diagnosed with Asperger's qualify not only for special services from their local school district, but also special consideration for their special needs. Some have suggested that the school's response to this situation violated civil rights section 504, which protects school children from discrimination for their developmental disabilities.
DISCIPLINE ONLY FOR THE CHILD?
Knowing that children with Asperger's syndrome have difficulty expressing feelings, why did teachers allow a jacket on the child to become such an issue? Are these people still employed in their same jobs? What, if any, has been the school board's disciplinary action for them? And, even though the school administrators and teachers were out-of-control, what was wrong with the police? They actually put the handcuffs on an 8-year-old, arrested her and hauled her off to a jail. Who would suggest that such an event won't have traumatizing effects on this child for the rest of her life? But, after all, the teachers were mad!
SUE THEIR SOCKS OFF
This week Evelyn's parents, Charles and Spring Towry, filed a tort claim against Lake Pend Oreille School District and Bonner County in Idaho, suing for damages, reports the Bonner Daily Bee.
I wish them a whole lot of luck and hope they win -- win enough money to make the school board and those under their direction to think twice before abusing another disabled child.
TO READ "AUTISTIC KINDERGARTENER ALEX BARTON VOTED OUT OF CLASS: NOW ON HONOR ROLL," CLICK HERE.
TO READ "TEACHER REINSTATED AFTER AUTISTIC BOY VOTED OUT OF KINDERGARTEN," CLICK HERE.
TO READ "TEACHER'S ETHICS LESSON: DON'T BIND BLACK STUDENTS TO TEACH SLAVERY," CLICK HERE.
Sharon McEachern
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