Creating safer schools

It's a nightmare for parents: Someone is hurting their autistic child, but the child doesn't have the skills to say so.

"Parents have sleepless nights over this issue," said Tim Conroy, vice president of the South Carolina Autism Society.

Conroy said educators can create a safer classroom atmosphere for autistic children by ensuring the child-to-teacher ratio is low in the classroom, properly training teachers and assistants, giving teachers the support they need and placing cameras in classrooms.

Conroy isn't directly involved in a case of suspected abuse at Knightsville Elementary School, where four educators were arrested Wednesday concerning allegations that a teaching assistant abused autistic students and that a teacher and administrators failed to report it. But Conroy is concerned about how autistic students are treated in classrooms across the state.

The Dorchester District 2 School Board voted Thursday to suspend with pay former Knightsville Elementary lead special education teacher Rebecca Piersol Crosby. Crosby was charged with three felony counts of unlawful conduct toward a child and four felony counts of misprision, which means neglecting to report a crime.

Alice Paylor, an attorney for the school board, said that under state law, the district could suspend a teacher with pay if her violations could result in dismissal if proven true. Crosby's suspension will last until the end of the school year unless the case is resolved before then, Paylor said.

Also this week, a Charleston County teacher's aide was accused of smacking a special-needs student's bare feet with a plastic ruler; and a teacher in rural Dorchester District 4 was accused of grabbing a special-needs student by the back of the neck and forcing him into a chair.

Sandra Loy, a parent of an 18-year-old with autism, said she's not surprised when she hears about incidents of abuse in special-education classrooms, especially in those where all of the children have autism. She thinks cameras in the classrooms are a good idea.

Most special-education teachers are good to their students, Loy said. But it's a high-pressure job. And many students, especially those with more severe forms of autism, simply can't speak up for themselves if they are being hurt.

Loy's son, who is enrolled in the special-education program at Summerville High School, attended Knightsville Elementary when he was younger.

Loy said she understands the challenges facing teachers and teaching assistants who work with autistic students with a myriad of problems. In addition to dealing with students, they must complete mountains of paperwork and deal with parents who are "losing their minds trying to figure out what to do with their kids."

But, she said, educators need to make sure students are safe. She thinks students are more at risk when they are closed off in classrooms. "Over a period of time, a little shove comes, then a little push comes, then it becomes a normal way of doing things," Loy said.

Conroy said he thinks special-education classrooms should have an open-door policy.

He's not sure why the alleged incidents at Knightsville Elementary would not be reported to proper authorities, as charges filed this week suggest. Educators are trained to follow the law in that regard, he said, and that includes reporting even suspected cases of abuse.

Pat Raynor, public information officer for Dorchester District 2, said the school board has a policy about reporting abuse that conforms to state law. In practice, anyone in the school system who sees or suspects abuse must report it to the Department of Social Services, law enforcement or both. That person must then tell the principal at the school where the incident happened. The principal must then report it to district leaders, she said.

The Dorchester District 2 school board took no action against former Knightsville principal Anita Ruff-Putillion or former assistant principal Mary Rita Watson, Paylor said. The former administrators were charged Wednesday with misdemeanors, she said. Both have been demoted.

Ruff-Putillion now is an assistant principal at Beech Hill Elementary School, and Watson now is a fifth-grade teacher at Oakbrook Elementary School.

Neither was at work Thursday, Raynor said.

Heather Martin, the former Knightsville Elementary teaching assistant charged Wednesday with nine felony counts of unlawful conduct toward a child, resigned Oct. 20.