Teacher of autistic children charged with assault
BY SUSAN BROILI : The Herald-Sun
sbroili@heraldsun.com
Aug 24, 2004 : 7:32 pm ET

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CHAPEL HILL -- Police charged an award-winning former Chapel Hill teacher Tuesday with assault and other offenses that allegedly took place in her classroom for autistic children during the 2003-04 school year.

Supporters, including parents and a former principal, called the charges a "travesty" and praised the teacher's work with the students.

Kathleen Yasui-Der, 49, of 101 Fieldstone Court, Chapel Hill, turned herself in at the Chapel Hill Police Department on Tuesday afternoon to have five warrants served, police spokeswoman Jane Cousins said Tuesday.

The warrants, which were issued May 27, charged Yasui-Der -- who left the district last month -- with two counts of assault on a handicapped person, one count of child abuse and two counts of contributing to the neglect of a minor, all misdemeanor charges, Cousins said.

The charges relate to two students: a 9-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy, who were students of Yasui-Der. School officials reported the alleged offenses that occurred during the last school year at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School, Cousins said.

In the charges Tuesday, one count of alleged assault on a handicapped person allegedly occurred between Sept. 1 and May 28, and the other count of alleged assault on a handicapped person occurred on Sept. 3. The assaults, according to the warrants, consisted of allegedly bending a student's finger back and slapping a student around the head, Cousins said.

The count of alleged child abuse occurred on March 12, when the teacher allegedly twisted a student's arm, Cousins said.

The two counts of contributing to the neglect of a minor allegedly occurred on March 12, and between Sept. 1 and May 28, Cousins said. Police did not provide specifics on the neglect charges.

Yasui-Der was released on a written promise to appear Sept. 20 in District Court in Hillsborough, Cousins said.

When reached at her home Tuesday, Yasui-Der declined to comment on the charges. But supporters were vociferous in her defense.

Alice Wertheimer, whose son was in Yasui-Der's class for six years at Frank Porter Graham, expressed incredulity about the charges and praised the teacher.

"I don't believe a word of these charges," Wertheimer said. "That this has been allowed to happen to her is a travesty in the Chapel Hill public schools."

Wertheimer, who is event planner for Division TEACCH, the UNC program on autism, founded the Chapel Hill Autism Local Unit 14 years ago. Her son was in Yasui-Der's class from age 5 to 11.

"She is the best thing that ever happened to my son in the Chapel Hill school system," Wertheimer said. "At 5, he barely spoke and was considered very difficult to educate. She taught him to read. His ability to work independently is attributed to early education and devotion to teaching by Kathy Yasui-Der."

Wertheimer's son is now in high school and works part time. "He's very happy, very successful and a very able person, thanks to Kathy," Wertheimer said.

Ginny Berg, principal at Frank Porter Graham from 1995 to 2001 and now retired, said she came to know Yasui-Der well during those six years.

"I know of children she has just helped immensely," Berg said Tuesday. "You just can't match the knowledge she has of autism. Her life she totally dedicated to these children with autism."

The former principal said she had had many opportunities to observe Yasui-Der in the classroom.

"I was in her class at least three times a week for a six-year period," Berg said, noting that Yasui-Der provided the needed structure for each child and had "very high expectations" for others working with the students in her classroom.

"This is just such a travesty," Berg said of the charges.

Yasui-Der resigned from Frank Porter Graham in July, said current principal Stephen Greene, who wouldn't comment any further on the case. Neither would Margaret Blackwell, the district's executive director of exceptional education. Superintendent Neil Pedersen could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Yasui-Der was named Teacher of the Year in 2002-03 when she was an exceptional education teacher at FPG, which houses two of the district's four elementary classes for children whose primary diagnosis is autism. Also in 2002, she was one of two teachers in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro district to receive a Dean Smith Teaching Award. The award recognizes teachers who motivate and inspire others.

Yasui-Der most recently taught the older/upper primary-aged, autistic students at FPG.


Reporter Carolyn Norton contributed to this article.









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