Parent Advocates
Search All  
 
NYC FILES LAWSUIT ON BEHALF OF SCHOOLCHILDREN UNLAWFULLY SENT TO ERS FOR ALLEGED BEHAVIOR ISSUES
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that school personnel resort to calling EMS in response to tantrums and other behavior problems because the school system lacks procedures and its staff lacks training for appropriately assisting and calming children in those circumstances. In numerous instances, school and EMS personnel insisted on transporting the children, who were calm by the time EMS arrived, and most of whom are between five and seven years old, to hospitals against the express wishes of their families. As a result, these students have not only been removed from school against their wills, they have also been traumatized by unnecessary trips to emergency rooms and deprived of valuable instructional time.
          
NYC FILES LAWSUIT ON BEHALF OF SCHOOLCHILDREN UNLAWFULLY SENT TO ERS FOR ALLEGED BEHAVIOR ISSUES
LINK

December 16, 2013, New York, NY— Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) and Cuti Hecker Wang LLP have filed a lawsuit on behalf of six New York City children who have all been repeatedly removed or threatened with removal from school by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) even though they were not in need of emergency medical care. The suit was filed against the City of New York and the Department of Education.

Press coverage: Wall Street Journal, WNYC, Disability Scoop

The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that school personnel resort to calling EMS in response to tantrums and other behavior problems because the school system lacks procedures and its staff lacks training for appropriately assisting and calming children in those circumstances. In numerous instances, school and EMS personnel insisted on transporting the children, who were calm by the time EMS arrived, and most of whom are between five and seven years old, to hospitals against the express wishes of their families. As a result, these students have not only been removed from school against their wills, they have also been traumatized by unnecessary trips to emergency rooms and deprived of valuable instructional time.

LSNYC advocates have seen a steady increase recently in the number of children removed from their classrooms and taken by ambulance to ERs for emotional disturbances that do not involve the threat of harm to themselves or others. In each school year from 2009-2010 through 2011-2012, schools called EMS regarding over 3,000 students due to alleged disruptive behaviors. Over those three school years, the number of EMS calls due to alleged disruptive behaviors increased each year. By 2011-2012, there were over 3,600 calls from schools to EMS for students with alleged disruptive behaviors. The majority of students removed by EMS are students with disabilities.

Plaintiffs spent hours in emergency rooms and were then invariably released without being admitted to the hospital because ER staff determined that no medical emergency existed. The practice of sending children to the ER when they do not need emergency care leaves children reluctant to return to school and frightened of emergency services workers, while diverting valuable public resources from more effective methods of intervention, including school-based mental health resources.

Plaintiffs also include the parents of these students. School and EMS procedures interfere with parents’ rights to direct the medical care of their children and to decide whether it is appropriate to seek an ER evaluation of their children. School and EMS practices also cause parents to incur fees for ambulance and emergency room services that the children did not need and that the families cannot afford.

“Our clients are but a few of the thousands of students who are sent to the emergency room each year for disruptive behaviors,” said Nelson Mar, Staff Attorney at Legal Services NYC-Bronx. “We bring this lawsuit to seek remedies for our clients because these students were removed by EMS unjustly from their schools. We will seek to compel the City to end this costly practice of using hospital ERs as a ‘time out room’ for students who act out in school.”

“I hope that this lawsuit changes the system and other families don’t have to go through this,” said the mother of one of the students. “It has caused a financial and emotional strain for me and my entire family. I feel that they sent my son to the emergency room as an excuse to not do their job. If my child acts up at home I cannot send my son to the hospital emergency room.”

“For years, Legal Services NYC advocates have been advocating for students who are unlawfully removed from school and sent to emergency rooms,” said Staff Attorney Tara Foster of Queens Legal Services. “This lawsuit seeks to end this damaging practice, and we hope the millions of dollars the City has expended in forcibly removing children from public schools can instead be invested in mental health resources, staff training, and additional support in the classrooms."

“As Chair of the Committee on Mental Health, I have long advocated for school-based health centers with mental health resources as an effective means of intervention for children with emotional disturbances,” said Council Member G. Oliver Koppell. “The presence of such services would substantially reduce the number of children subjected to the trauma of being removed by Emergency Medical Services and sent to hospital settings unnecessarily.”

“As a teacher for 25 years, I saw firsthand disruptive outbursts in the classroom,” Council Member Daniel Dromm said. “Likewise, I saw trained counselors and teachers properly address and control the situation. Calling EMS is not the right way to deal with many of these incidents. Visits to the Emergency Room rack up unnecessary insurance bills for parents and taxpayers. School districts should provide detailed annual data so policy makers can better see where resources need to be applied. This will help assure more training and support systems go to at risk schools and diminish increasing EMS calls. I commend Legal Services NYC for bringing attention to this issue.”

“Removing children from our schools via EMS in instances where a child is not a threat to themselves or their peers is counter-productive to our goal of creating an environment where children are properly cared for and can learn,” said Council Member Stephen Levin. “I commend Legal Services NYC for filing suit on behalf of our schoolchildren and recognizing that the use of ambulances to remove children from classrooms is taking away valuable resources that should go towards mental-health interventions for at-risk kids.”

“Somewhere along the line we have forgotten that our schools are learning institutions and not prison wards,” said Council Member Andy King. “It’s disgraceful that the adults in the building have shunned their responsibility in helping our youth navigate through a trying moment and opted to a convenient discriminatory practice of Martial Law in the classroom. We must remind ourselves that these are our children... and yes, they are still children.”

The lawsuit claims violations of the U.S. Constitution, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, New York City Human Rights Law, the Department of Education Chancellor’s Regulations, and the Regulations of the Fire Department of New York. Among other relief, the suit seeks to compel the Department of Education to provide school personnel with the training and resources they need to address disruptive student behavior without removing students from school by EMS when there is no reasonable basis for believing that they are in need of emergency medical services.

Contacts: Nelson Mar, 718-928-3756; Kate Whalen, 646-442-3654

NYC DOE TO ADOPT NEW POLICIES FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN SENT TO ERS FOR BEHAVIORAL ISSUES
LINK

Monday, December 15th, 2014, New York, NY—Under a settlement approved by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge James L. Cott on Monday, New York City will implement new protocols and provide expanded training in specific schools to staff and appropriate resources to students in order to avoid unnecessary emergency room visits for students experiencing emotional, behavioral or psychiatric events. The settlement, in T.H. et al. v. Fariña, et al. (13 Civ. 8777), was agreed to by The City of New York and plaintiffs who are eleven children and their guardians. Plaintiffs were represented by Legal Services NYC and Cuti Hecker Wang LLP.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit originally filed during the previous administration against the City of New York, the Department of Education, and the Fire Department of the City of New York in December 2013. Under its terms, the City and the respective agencies will implement the following changes:

DOE will propose a new Chancellor’s Regulation for adoption to provide guidance to NYC public school staff as to when school officials should call 911 for a child experiencing an emotional, behavioral, or psychiatric event.
DOE will expand the role of schools’ Crisis Intervention Teams to include identifying strategies for de-escalating behavioral crisis situations; identification of locations where students in crisis may be safely isolated within the school; and identification of in-school and community resources available to the school and parents.
DOE will provide Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for Schools (TCIS) training to 1500 staff members over the course of three years at schools that have been identified as having high rates of transports for emotional/psychological conditions.
DOE will implement modifications to its Online Occurrence Reporting System in order to improve data collection on EMS calls and/or transports and will periodically provide Plaintiffs with data on EMS calls and transports of public school students experiencing emotional, behavioral or psychiatric events.
FDNY will ensure emergency medical service (EMS) personnel are familiar with departmental policies governing the treatment and transport of minors, and the policies regarding refusal of medical aid for minors. In addition, the FDNY will periodically provide Plaintiffs with data on EMS calls and transports of public school students experiencing emotional, behavioral or psychiatric events.
“We are committed to creating an environment most conducive to learning for all students. That involves protecting the safety of students, school staff and the families we serve, as well as helping students facing behavioral challenges,” said NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “This settlement brings critical changes to the way schools work with students in crisis. We're committed to implementing reforms that create safe and supportive learning environments in every school that improve safety and increase fairness.”
“As a result of this settlement, the Department of Education will adopt policies and practices, including a significant expansion of the number of staff trained in methods to de-escalate classroom incidents, that will improve safety in the learning environment for New York City public school students and staff,” said NYC Corporation Counsel Zachary W. Carter. “I commend all the parties for their collaborative approach in proposing effective solutions to resolve this litigation. This settlement is in the best interests of the City and its 1.1 million public school students."

“This settlement represents a significant first step in addressing a problem that has affected thousands of school children in New York City for well over a decade under the prior administration,” said Nelson Mar, Education Law Specialist and Senior Staff Attorney at Legal Services NYC’s Bronx program. “The Plaintiffs in this action are happy the current administration has moved swiftly to resolve this litigation in a manner that addresses both their individual claims and the need for systemic changes which will benefit all public school students, teachers and staff.”

“We are hopeful that these reforms will better equip schools to de-escalate situations and provide students with behavioral supports,” said Mariann Meier Wang, a partner at Cuti Hecker Wang LLP. “We are proud to have worked with Legal Services NYC, which has been at the forefront of this issue, and pleased that the City has made a clear commitment to address this harmful practice.”

“I am happy that the city has reached a settlement with me and the other parents in this case,” said N.R, the mother of one of the children involved in the suit. “This settlement is a start to reducing unnecessary EMS calls like what happened to my son, and hopefully these changes will ensure no other parent will have to go through what I have gone through with my son.” (The plaintiffs in the case are identified only by initials in order to protect the identities of the children involved.)

 
© 2003 The E-Accountability Foundation