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Protecting Their Sons / Farr West mothers say they didn't know their sons were being abused, until a school aide broke ranks and told them herself
By Di LewisStandard-Examiner staff
dlewis@standard.net
PLAIN CITY -- Two mothers who say their sons were abused at school by another student are hoping for information, but the school district says it can't discuss the issues because of privacy laws.
A teacher's aide who alerted parents to the situation lost her job soon after, and she believes it's because she told the families.
Debbie Veldhuizen and Jamie Doak each had a son in the Plain City Elementary School severe disabilities unit, but last year they took their boys out of the class. The unit is a self-contained class for students with severe enough disabilities to not be mainstreamed. It is not a behavioral problems unit.
Doak said her son, Tucker, was choked and hit by another child in the unit, but she was never told about it until classroom aide Holly Wilson came privately to talk about her concerns.
Veldhuizen said her son, Andrew, was groped through his pants by the other student and called profane names. She was told about it through a note from the school. Andrew was so upset that he began wetting himself instead of going to the bathroom, she said.
Wilson said the other student masturbated in front of the other children and was very aggressive to the aides and other students.
"I felt by sending him to school I was putting him in harm's way," Veldhuizen said. "He was changing. He used to be happy but was turning into a loner."
Neither Doak nor Veldhuizen blame the other child for his aggressive behavior, but they are upset the administration did not tell them about what was happening.
"I wasn't given the right to remove my child from the situation, because I didn't know what was going on," Doak said.
Wilson said the aides were told to restrain or isolate some of the other children in the name of safety, because the abusive child was too difficult to control.
Principal's instructions
She said Principal David Rhees told the aides not to tell the parents what was happening and not to give information to either a police investigation Doak requested or to a Department of Child and Family Services investigation Veldhuizen requested unless the information was subpoenaed.
"Things were really bad," Wilson said. "I would see something happen and I would go straight to the office. ... They told me that if we said anything to parents that it would violate FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). We weren't allowed to talk to them."
Aides attacked
It wasn't just students having problems with the student, Wilson said. She said the aides were bitten, stabbed with scissors and scratched. When she went to Rhees about safety concerns, Wilson said she was told it was part of working in special education.
Doak, Veldhuizen and Wilson said they feel their concerns were brushed off by the administration and the Weber County School District.
Rhees said if a parent were concerned, they could call the office, Wilson said.
"But if we don't know what's going on how, how are we supposed to call and discuss it?" Veldhuizen said.
Privacy constraints
But school district spokesman Nate Taggart said the district can't tell its full side of the story because of privacy laws. If he were able to tell the complete story, Taggart said, he believes the administration would be vindicated.
Taggart was able to talk about some of the problems in the unit, but said most had been misrepresented and some of the claims are unsubstantiated.
He said if students are having issues, a behavioral plan is established for them, but the aides weren't following the plan.
The classroom didn't have a licensed teacher for most of the year, Wilson said, and was being led by an aide who was working on certification and was often gone.
The school district was trying to find a teacher but was having a hard time finding a qualified replacement, said Linda Carver, assistant superintendent.
Taggart said many of the problems stemmed from conflicts between the aides and the administration. Since a teacher was hired at the end of the school year and Wilson was not rehired, he said, things improved and the district has not gotten any complaints this year.
Wilson said her firing seems to be directly related to speaking out about the problems.
Wilson said that in early March 2008, she and the other aides took their concerns to the administration. A few days later, she was told she would not be rehired the next year.
"They (administration) would always blame us for everything. I don't know how it's our fault that a child was being sexually assaulted," she said.
Then Wilson said she decided to go to the parents with what she'd seen, although she didn't reveal information about any other students. Shortly after Veldhuizen and Doak took their sons out of the class, Wilson was told not to finish the school year.
Ann Miller, special education director, said even if Wilson didn't explicitly reveal any information, it isn't hard to know who is being talked about in a class of eight students, and Wilson violated protocol.
Veldhuizen said she doesn't understand why the district can't address concerns about Andrew without discussing another student, and said that Rhees violated privacy by telling her the other student's name anyway.
Wilson said there were many other protocol violations in the school and that it seems interesting that the one situation is being singled out.
Taggart said he is confused as to why the issue is still around, since it has been more than a year since the boys were taken out of the class.
The parents began a lawsuit against the school district, Plain City Elementary, Rhees and Susan Hagadorn, resource coordinator. Taggart said the parents were notified that the next step was to have an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act hearing, but a hearing was never requested.
Doak said she never requested a hearing because all her other complaints went unaddressed. She said she felt a hearing would do no good if school officials would not admit there was an issue.
The women said they are still trying to get answers and want people to know what might be happening in school that they don't know about.
"People say, 'Why don't you let it go?' " Wilson said. "It's because parents need to know."
Doak said she wants to get a policy in place to notify parents when their child is hurt, assaulted or bullied.
Add Your Comment
we as parents need to be aware of the problems that are children face at school everyday. we read stories like this one and think those poor kids but the reality is that it could have be your kids. the children that this story is speaking of for the most part can not tell they parents what happened at school. they can not come home and say mom i learned my abc's or mom i fell at school and hurt myself. the school is using that to their own advantage. my question is MR. TAGGART why the confussion if it was your child we were talking about i would hope that you would move heaven adn earth to protect your child and that is what these mothers are doing? so stop being so confused and fix the problem don't hide behind privacy constraints.
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