Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 19, 1993 TAG: 9311190140
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The legal papers are school officials' first public response to a lawsuit that charges that children with Down syndrome, autism and other disabilities were subjected to cruel and unusual punishments by a teacher and teacher's aide at Breckinridge Elementary School in Fincastle.
The School Board's attorney, Charles Allen, asks that a federal judge dismiss the lawsuit.
Ann and Kendall Austin claimed in a suit filed last month in U.S. District Court that the discipline techniques included slapping children in the mouth, pulling them by their ears, threatening them with a ruler and holding them down during nap time with a foot on their backs. The Austins and two other sets of parents say they complained to school officials, but their concerns were ignored.
Virginia law forbids educators to use physical discipline against schoolchildren.
The lawsuit names the School Board, Superintendent Clarence McClure, teacher Cindy Higgins and aide Margaret H. Garrison as defendants.
The board's response says that none of the defendants participated in or condoned any such discipline techniques.
The board also says that the lawsuit fails to show that the children were deprived "of any right secured by the Constitution of the United States."
The board also contends that all the defendants are shielded against such lawsuits because they are public employees and officials.
The legal principle of sovereign immunity makes it more difficult for citizens to win lawsuits against government than against private citizens or companies. Lawsuits against the government generally must show that public employees acted with a high level of recklessness and disregard for the law.
by CNB