Mother sues, alleges abuse in special education
CUPERTINO DISTRICT CASE PART OF GROWING SCRUTINY
By Larry Slonaker, Mercury News, September 28, 2004

LINK

Today Ann Gaydos looks back in horror and asks herself how she could have kept sending her child back into that classroom.

Her daughter, Paige, has a form of autism that put her in a special education class in Cupertino. Over several months, Gaydos said, Paige's teacher subjected her to a series of abuses -- ranging from pushing her to the floor and sitting on her, to rubbing a burrito in her face.

Gaydos has filed a civil suit to be heard in November against Cupertino Union School District, for unspecified damages. Neither district officials nor the teacher, Karen Miller, would discuss the allegations. But in court filings, both parties deny them.

This case and others across the country illustrate a growing scrutiny on alleged abuse in special education. Some fear the likelihood of abuse is enhanced by the peculiar and volatile dynamic of the special education classroom.

Special education teachers deal with some students who have difficulty controlling their behavior. As a result, the teachers wield powers -- including the authorization to physically restrain children -- that are unheard of in regular classrooms. Administrators are fiercely loyal to the teachers because they are hard to find and keep. And the students are in a uniquely vulnerable position.

In the past year, school districts across the nation have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle lawsuits on behalf of special education students.

Studies have shown children with disabilities ``are over three times more likely to be maltreated'' in school, said Fred Orelove, a professor in special education at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Orelove cited several reasons why. ``People who are abusers go out of their way to find victims who aren't going to tell on them,'' he said. ``And children with disabilities may be unable to avoid or escape the abuse.''

Compounding the problem, he added, teachers and administrators ``are loath to squeal on one another.''

Teachers of disabled students have earned a special respect in the education profession. They often are revered for their dedication to a very tough job teaching children once thought to be unteachable. In addition, they undergo special training that gives them added credence and authority.

As a result, many parents give them the benefit of the doubt. ``There's a strong predisposition to think the people who help these children walk on water,'' Gaydos said.

Troubling signs

Today, Gaydos continually chastises herself for having had that belief -- and for sending Paige back to Miller's class, even after some troubling signs surfaced.

Paige, now 10, has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. In some ways, she is precocious -- her math scores have registered in the ``gifted'' range. But by her mother's admission, she also could be a handful in the classroom.

``She has had real trouble socializing outside the home,'' Gaydos said.

In the spring of 2001, Gaydos said, Paige especially was having trouble in Miller's class at Eisenhower Elementary in Santa Clara. The first indication was when Paige -- who at the time weighed about 40 pounds -- came home with a bruise on her hip and ``scuffed from head to toe.''

When Gaydos inquired, she said Miller responded that Paige had refused to stop wiggling a loose tooth, and a confrontation escalated until the 7-year-old had to be restrained. Under state law, special education teachers are allowed to restrain students in danger of harming themselves or someone else, and there are carefully worded regulations on how restraints should be practiced.

Gaydos said she would have let the incident go at that, but a teacher's aide in Miller's class approached her husband later and said Miller had lied -- instead of properly restraining the girl, Miller had pushed Paige to the floor and sat on her. The aide, Parivash Rezvani, who now lives in Southern California, repeated the story in a May deposition.

Rezvani also recited a litany of other abusive actions, including ``timeout'' sessions in which one boy was deprived of food and water for several hours -- because he cried and asked for his mother.

The mother of another student claims her son was subjected to the same treatment -- for an entire month. Doron Cohen, now 12, landed in Miller's class five years ago because he had been diagnosed as bipolar. Today, he recounts his daily exiles to the timeout cubicle as if they occurred last week.

``I didn't know why she was keeping me in there so long,'' he said. ``I didn't want to go back to school because I knew she'd put me back in there.''

His mother, Lisa Cohen, said she is contemplating suing the district and Miller, too.

Miller declined to respond to Cohen's allegations.

After Paige was bruised, other problems followed. In every case, Gaydos said, school administrators fully backed Miller and reassured her nothing was amiss.

One day, Gaydos said, a distraught Miller called her. She said Miller reported that Paige had refused to eat her lunch burrito, so she rubbed it in the girl's face and hair.

"I'm sorry, I've had an awful day and I lost my temper,'' she recalled Miller saying.

Bruise on arm

The breaking point came during summer school in 2002, when officials called her to pick Paige up. She had a bruise on her arm and a lump on her head. The girl told her mother Miller had kicked her feet out from underneath her, causing her to fall.

Gaydos took Paige to the doctor, who she said reported the injury to Child Protective Services as possible abuse. The agency referred the case to San Jose police. But Gaydos said officers told her that Paige's injuries were not that serious and that, because Gaydos told them she was going to pull Paige out of Miller's class, ``they saw no urgent need to step in.''

Gaydos finally had had enough. She demanded that the district send Paige to a private school -- and it complied. Because the district must pay for her schooling and transportation, the public cost for sending Paige to the Children's Health Council in Palo Alto is about $58,000 a year.

Cupertino Superintendent William Bragg declined to discuss the suit. But he did talk about the difficulty of recruiting and retaining special education teachers.

The job "is more difficult, more stressful, more demanding'' than teaching in a regular classroom, he said.

Miller now teaches at an elementary school in Clearlake, north of Calistoga. She moved there, she said, because the cost of living is lower. She said confidentiality laws prohibit her from commenting on the allegations.

Lawyers for each side continue to seek a settlement in the suit. Gaydos said she will refuse any settlement that prohibits further discussion of the case.

She warns others to temper their trust in the education establishment. Her entreaties to Miller's supervisors, and ultimately to the district board, were either dismissed or ignored, she said.

"Better whistle-blower protections need to be put in place within school districts,'' she said. Her overriding message to parents: ``Always, always trust your gut instincts.''

Contact Larry Slonaker at lslonaker@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5809.