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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994                   TAG: 9406070089
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: |By MICHAEL STOWE| |STAFF WRITER|
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ABUSE

The lawsuits, filed last year, claimed that a special education teacher and her aide used discipline techniques that included slapping children in the mouth, pulling them by the ears, threatening them with a ruler and holding them down during nap time with a foot on their backs.

The settlement filed in U.S. District Court Monday was kept sealed at the request of attorneys in the case. Details of the agreement were obtained by talking with the family members and other officials familiar with the case.

Ann Austin and Joy Parrish, the mothers who filed the suits, said the best part of the settlement is not the money, but that it requires the school system to develop guidelines for dealing with disabled children.

"As far as we were concerned the money was secondary," Austin said. "We wanted guidelines and that's what we got."

Parrish said the settlement guidelines say that children enrolled in Botetourt County's special education program cannot be subjected to different "behavior control" than any other pupils without a written agreement among the parent, teacher and principal.

"We think we got good protection for all of the children," she said. "Many children do not have parents with the wherewithal to make enough noise to protect them."

Parrish was careful to use the words "behavior control," saying that means more than just disciplining the children.

In some cases, for instance, it might be appropriate to use a Velcro strip to keep a hyperactive child seated in a chair, she said. That is not really discipline, but the school still would have to get parental approval before using that technique.

Clarence McClure, superintendent of Botetourt County schools, said the judge's order prohibited him from talking about the case.

"I think it would be wise not to comment," he said. "I've got some feelings, but I guess I better not say them."

The principal did say that the settlement money would be paid by the school system's insurance company, not with taxpayer dollars.

McClure, teacher Cindi Higgins and teacher's aide Margaret Garrison were named in the lawsuit. They filed a response to the suit denying charges. The School Board's attorneys, Charles Allen and James Hopper, could not be reached for comment.

The county Department of Social Services investigated the allegations last year and notified the families that it had substantiated their child-abuse charges. But a state hearing officer overruled that finding.

Austin and her husband, Kendall, filed the first suit against the school system last October after her 3-year-old disabled daughter began to utter phrases like "no kool" (no school) and "T hurt me" (teacher hurt me).

Parrish and her husband, Mike, who recognized similar behavior from their 4-year-old daughter Anne, decided to file suit in December after the state official overruled their abuse complaints.

Both families negotiated with school officials for several weeks before deciding to settle the suit out out of court, Parrish said. One reason for that decision is that a lengthy court battle could have been costly.

Both children were removed from Breckinridge Elementary, where the abuse allegedly occurred. They were enrolled for a short time in Roanoke County schools, but have now returned to Botetourt County at Troutville Elementary.

Joy Parrish said the decision to put her daughter, now 5, back into Botetourt schools was a difficult one - made only after meeting several times with the school's principal and Anne's teacher.

"Our trust has been destroyed," she said. " But our teacher this year is nothing short of wonderful."

Ann Austin said she still cannot drive Katherine, now 4, by Breckinridge Elementary without the child throwing a fit.

Austin said her biggest complaint is that both Higgins and Garrison still are teaching in the county.

"She just goes ballistic," she said.

"It makes me nauseous to think about it," she said.