Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 18, 1994                   TAG: 9403180237
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SUIT SAYS TEACHER MADE INJURED GIRL DO LAPS

Emily Myers, 12, alleges in her lawsuit that running further aggravated knee injuries for which she was being treated. The suit, filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court on her behalf by her father, Dan Myers, asks for $250,000 in damages.

The lawsuit states that Bernice Callahan, a physical education teacher at the middle school, required Emily Myers on April 14, 1993, "to run laps around the football field" even though Myers had supplied a doctor's note two weeks earlier excusing her from physical education for the rest of the year.

Myers' knee was originally injured while playing basketball in January 1993. At that time, a doctor excused her from physical education classes for three weeks. The next month, the doctor approved limited activities such as volleyball and lifting weights but told the girl to abstain from "running, jumping or any activity which would cause an impact to her knees," according to the lawsuit

Dan Myers asked Callahan to allow his daughter to do knee exercises prescribed by the doctor during physical education class and that was agreed to, the suit states.

One day after being required to run laps, according to the suit, the doctor noted a significant flare-up in the girl's knee. Arthroscopic surgery was performed on Emily Myers one week after she ran.

The lawsuit alleges Callahan erred in disregarding the doctor's instructions and that her actions caused Emily Myers to further damage her knee.

The Montgomery County school system was not named in the suit.