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

DATE: SUNDAY, January 29, 1995                   TAG: 9501310118
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE                                 LENGTH: Medium

`IF PROTECTING MY SON IS A CRIME, I PLEAD GUILTY'

A mother claims that students at a local elementary school are abusing her 8-year-old disabled son, but school officials say the woman is breaking the law by keeping the boy out of school.

Donnamarie Coder has been ordered to appear Feb. 16 in Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on charges she is breaking the school attendance law.

Coder said she is willing to go to jail to protect her son.

``I'm protecting my son. I'm like a lion and her cub,'' she said Friday. ``I'm going to protect him no matter what. If protecting my son is a crime, I plead guilty.''

Coder removed her son, Charles, from the Neabsco Elementary School Nov. 10.

She said her son, who is diagnosed with a mild form of autism, has been physically and verbally abused by students.

``On his first day, he came home crying because his lunch was stolen. That was the start of a nightmare,'' Coder said. On Nov. 10, ``he came to me crying down the hallway. It was then and there that I went into the office and said my son will not be coming back.''

``Her child is not being abused,'' Superintendent Edward L. Kelly said. ``We have done everything we can. There is a point at which we are obliged to notify the parent that she has to comply with the laws.''

Although school officials acknowledge that Charles has been teased some in class, they say his treatment was no worse than what most children bear.

They insist that he is safe at Neabsco and should continue in a classroom with learning-disabled and emotionally disturbed students.

Coder's refusal to send him back to school, they say, denies Charles the education he deserves.

Coder has filed a federal suit asking for $2.5 million in damages from the state Department of Education and alleging that the department and the Prince William County schools are failing to provide a ``fair and appropriate education'' for her disabled son, as required by the Disability Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

At an appeal hearing scheduled for Feb. 6, school officials are expected to argue that Charles belongs at Neabsco, while Coder will again argue that he does not.

by CNB