So special needs kids were tortured and murdered during the Bush years

[malaise]

See why the head of the snake has to be cut off. They even allowed the torture of children at home. There are no words for these bastards.
---------------------------------

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/19/schools.abuse/index.html?iref=24hours
<snip>

A Texas woman tearfully recounted the death of her foster child at the hands of a schoolteacher during a congressional hearing Tuesday looking into the use of seclusion and restraints in U.S. schools.
The House Committee on Education and Labor heard testimony Tuesday on a report looking at school abuse.

The House Committee on Education and Labor heard testimony Tuesday on a report looking at school abuse.

The hearing came on the heels of a report issued by the investigating arm of Congress that documents widespread abuse of techniques use to restrain or discipline special-education students.

The Government Accountability Office report was prepared for the House Committee on Education and Labor, which heard testimony from parents, investigators and experts who described traumatizing punishment of special-needs children.

The violent acts -- from hours of isolation in locked rooms or closets to the use of handcuffs and pinning children on the floor -- often led to serious injuries and even death, witnesses said.

Price said Cedric was experiencing behavioral problems in school and on that particular day he stopped working at 11 a.m. His teacher withheld his lunch. Around 2:30, still without having eaten, Cedric tried to leave the classroom.

Her voice shaking and tears welling in her eyes, Price said the teacher, whom she described as over 6 feet tall and weighing 230 pounds, forced the boy in a chair and restrained him. Price said Cedric, a small boy, struggled, so the teacher put him face down and sat on him.

"I can't breathe," he said.

"If you can speak, you can breathe," the teacher said, according to Price's testimony.

Shortly after that, Cedric stopped struggling, and then stopped moving altogether. The teacher continued to restrain him as an aide wiped drool off his face, Price said. They then sat him up in the chair but Cedric slumped over and slid off, Price said.

He was dead before Price could get to the school.

[Mythsaje]

1. Holy crap...

That's seriously fucked up.

[snappyturtle]

2. OMG! nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. And the teacher is in prison I hope.

That is seriously fucked up.

[SmileyRose]

16. the evil witch is STILL TEACHING!

Cedric's death was ruled a homicide, Price said, but the teacher never faced trial. She was placed on a Texas registry of individuals found to have abused children but, despite the listing, she now teaches at a public high school in Virginia, Price told the committee.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. That doesn't make any sense

Something is missing from this story. Being on a list of child abusers is enough to be denied a teaching certificate in all 50 states. That's a FEDERAL law.

[anigbrowl]

31. More information here

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-05-18-restraint-special-ed_N.htm

It says police ruled it a homicide, but a grand jury declined to prosecute. Whatever register she was placed on would be an unofficial one rather than one with legal consequences as she hadn't been convicted of any crime. Why the grand jury gave her a pass is beyond me.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. It doesn't matter if she was convicted or not

Once you are accused, you are put on a list and can't get hired. In my state, your name is on the list for 5 years. For merely being accused.

There is more to this story. There has to be.

[anigbrowl]

35. Realy - are you sure of that?

You get listed as an abuser and lose your job and career just for being accused? So you're saying anyone can just end a teacher's career at will by simply accusing them of abuse, even if they have no evidence or proof? I don't believe this. Let's see some documentation of this claim.

[proud2BlibKansan]

45. Yes you can end a career with just an accusation

No district will hire anyone on the list. And they all do background checks now. That's part of NCLB.

I would believe the story if this teacher was still in the same district. It would be less likely that she was fired, since she wasn't convicted of anything.

But yes, just the accusation alone puts us on a list and it varies by state, but in my state, we are on the list for 5 years. Just for the accusation. Guilty before proven innocent; that's how the law works now.

[Neurotica]

25. In our school district it turns out!

This should be interesting. I wonder if there will be any policy changes as a result... I would hope that this becomes an agenda item at a near-term school board meeting.

[MichiganVote]

4. I hope most people have the sense to realize this teacher was disturbed and does not

represent the vast majority of educators who use more sense.

[malaise]

18. True but there are quite a few like her in the report

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09719t.pdf

[MichiganVote]

32. One report does not justify the broad brush attacks launched....

Critical thinking is a good thing.

[proud2BlibKansan]

46. Amen

There are also far too many holes in this story. The mother claims the teacher is teaching in a different school district now. Sure, like she got past the background check? LOL

[DCKit]

61. She's teaching in Louden County, VA. Well, she was, until she got suspended yesterday...

(or Monday?) pending and investigation.

I'm kind of surprised at the skepticism, it's been all over news in and around DC for three days already.

[proud2BlibKansan]

62. They didn't do a background check?

I thought those were required in all 50 states.

I did hear just the other day that an area district hadn't paid the bill for the background checks and were hiring teachers without it and would pay the bill and have the checks done when the new fiscal year starts in July. But by the time those teachers are in classrooms next fall, the checks will have been done.

[Quantess]

5. As much as I loathe Bush & co,

he is not to blame for this tragedy.

[madrchsod]

19. you are correct..this has been going on years before bush.

[merh]

6. Don't you get it, that is what the Bushco years did to us, did to

this nation. Abuse and cruelty became the acceptable norms, kindness, mercy, compassion and understanding were seen as weak and evil.

[malaise]

9. Thank you

That's the point.
Empathy is a 'bad word'.

[cali]

13. what abject bullshit.

one has to be seriously, and I mean, seriously ignorant of the history of mistreatment of people with disabilities in this country, to assert that this has anything to do with bushco.

[SmileyRose]

17. Oh please

We were electrocuting and chopping up the brains people on the autistic spectrum for decades before Bushco. It's not ALL right vs left. Sometimes it's just wrong vs right.

[DatManFromNawlins]

54. You're completely ignorant of history

But don't let that detract from your good qualities.

[merh]

56. You are completely ignorant of the recent history of the

bush DOJ and its operations.

Welcome to DU

[madrchsod]

7. special needs children in a public school setting is a complex issue

unfortunately there are no easy solutions to the issues involved with special needs in the public school settings.

this does not absolve the teacher of her treatment of this child.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. This happened in Texas?

Does this have anything to do with the Texas Youth Commission?

[malaise]

12. It's from the GAO Report (pdf)

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09719t.pdf

The report reads like 19th century English schools where cruelty and abuse was the norm.


add

[sattahipdeep]

10. Seclusion and Restraints_The precedent is set!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=314154&mesg_id=314154

The precedent is set!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5684913&mesg_id=5684913

:hi:

[malaise]

14. And these practices are spreading faster than

swine flu.

[cali]

29. actually, they aren't. the trend has been toward improvement

it's slow, but honestly this case doesn't reflect much but that there are still a lot of people who get hired who have no business at all working with kids.

[cali]

11. sadly, this has been going on for a long time.

This is up to the states to do something about. This really has zip all to do with bushco.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[malaise]

21. That's harsh

Cali merely pointed out that disabled children have been victims for ages.
While that is true, I sense a new insensitivity fueled by eight years of ignorance and the promotion of violence against the 'other'. In this new world created by Bushco, 'empathy' is a bad word.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[KoKo]

27. Cali...what's with you and the constant personal attacks? It detracts

from all the qualifications you claim to have...which seem most admirable, but don't fit with your "attack dog" mentality where you call DU posters names and belittle them.

It's quite an amazing thing. Sort of like Jekyll and Hyde. :shrug:

[cali]

28. are you kidding. YOU vi ciously attacked me, koko. I explained

my position, and my background rationally. it's disgusting that you're turning it around. YOU attack me. I don't attack you first. Grab a clue and stop it.

[anigbrowl]

30. There's nothing libertarian about it

At present school boards answer to state departments of education. Cali is right, this just doesn't have anything to do with federal policy or the Bush administration.

[merh]

55. cali is not correct

State boards of education and state school districts get federal funding. Because of the federal funding, they answer to the US Dept of Education and any alleged wrongs or inequities are investigated by the USDE and any complaints about abuse or civil rights violations are turned over to the DOJ for action (whether it be criminal charges or civil rights lawsuits). Under bushco, many of the complaints were not investigated and/or were just flat out ignored. I know of a case where a child had been enduring racial slurs for weeks. He and his parents complained to the principal but nothing came of their complaints. One day he got into an altercation with one of the ones that he had reported. He was pulled from class, called a "n....." and had his arm injured by the prinicipal, as the principal forced him to sign a statement accepting responsibility for the altercation (would not let him have his parents present) and he was expelled. Nothing happened to the fellow that began the altercation or that had been provoking the boy by using racial slurs for weeks before the incident.

The US Dept of Education/DOJ would not investigate the school and/or principal for the civil rights violations.

I know of a case where a man was tortured and murdered in a county jail. It was not until suit was filed and the attorney who represented the family conducted an independent investigation that the US Attorney got involved and charges were filed against the jailer. It took a good bit of convincing to get the US Attorney to bring charges.

Bushco's DOJ and investigative agencies didn't much care about allegations of civil rights violations.

[Ilsa]

20. A state school for special needs in Corpus Christi Texas has had

workers arrested for abuse of residents.

http://www.caller.com/news/2009/may/19/more-abuse-found-corpus-christi-state-school/

[mmonk]

50. That's why having separate schools is unacceptable unless

the whole faculty has training and/or advanced degrees in special education and developmental disabilities.

[Ilsa]

58. ITA. I'm a parent of a special needs child. Specially trained teachers and aides

are a must. I couldn't bear to see my child anything but happy with school. The idea of someone abusing him because they are too ignorant to understand how to deal with him would make me go ballistic. Special education requires patient, well-trained personnel. And they deserve to be paid well for their work.

[mmonk]

59. Yes indeed.

[L0oniX]

22. They do it over there and here too. This is a country of sociopaths and authoritarian tyrants.

[cali]

43. American Exceptionalism of any flavor is a stupid viewpoint. n/t

[emilyg]

23. This has been going on long

before Bush. Willowbrook comes to mind.

[Octafish]

33. Evil flourishes when life is cheap.

Here's some history on the "elite" and how they got to feeling about themselves that way:

Know your BFEE: Eugenics and the NAZIs - The California Connection

The things they've done...

Know your BFEE: American Children Used in Radiation Experiments

It's not like what used to be me, but I find myself crying more and more these days.

Thank you for remembering the good children and reminding us of what is happening now, malaise.

[cali]

39. know your history. this has little or nothing to do with bushco

and its a cop out to say it does.

[Octafish]

44. Government policy has everything to do with Bushco.

They've got money for war and no money available for family services. Remember Poppy's inaugural, when he said, "We've got more will than wallet."

Both Poppy and Junior' history is one of complete disregard for human life, as chronicled by their treatment of Americans and foreign nationals.

The real cop-out comes from denying it.

[cali]

47. fair enough to say that not funding federal mandates

leads to terrible outcomes for special ed children. but that's not just a bushco thing or even just a repuke thing- alas. And sadistic teachers and teachers aides are hardly some new or even burgeoning phenomenon. Simplistically putting this all on bushco is a cop out. and it solves nothing.

[merh]

57. see post 55

know the facts

Civil rights violations were not high priority for bushco

[malaise]

42. Thanks for those links Octafish

:hi:

[Octafish]

48. Anytime, malaise. Tragically, there are too many more examples...

Here's a website:

Families Against Restraint and Seclusion Articles

Even in Maryland, I state I have recently come to know and love...

Youth facility will be closed - Teen died in restraint at Bowling Brook school

And Texas and Florida and California...

Because they have no regard for human life, I say these people are evil. Because so much of American history has been shaped by such turds, I call it no coincidence.

[malaise]

51. The irony is they are the same group of people

who claim to be Xtians.

[sattahipdeep]

36. kick

:)

[Hubert Flottz]

37. Same kind of shit the Nazis did...

T-4

[cali]

38. not even close.

and conditions have been slowly improving for children with disabilites in the public school system for years. Yes, it's slow and frustrating and the federal gov't needs to meet its obligation and fund special ed, but comparing this to T-4 is hugely erroneous.

[Wednesdays]

40. Exactly...just google "Nazis" and "handicapped"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=nazis+handicapped&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images

Anyone who was not "perfect" was expendable...just like in GOP Amerika. :puke:

[cali]

41. absurd.

children with disabilities have more rights and better treatment than 25 years ago. We have a long way to go, but your stupid comment is a disservice to all those who work and advocate for kids with disabilities.

[Hubert Flottz]

53. Chapter -III- Race Hygiene: Three Bush Family Alliances

Bush and Gray

Snip...

It started in 1946. The eugenics movement was looking for a way to begin again in America.

Nazi death camps such as Auschwitz had just then seared the conscience of the world. The Sterilization League of America, which had changed its name during the war to `` Birthright, Inc., '' wanted to start up again. First they had to overcome public nervousness about crackpots proposing to eliminate `` inferior '' and `` defective '' people. The League tried to surface in Iowa, but had to back off because of negative publicity: A little boy had recently been sterilized there and had died from the operation.

They decided on North Carolina, where the Gray family could play the perfect host. Through British imperial contacts, Boyden Gray's grandfather, Bowman Gray, had become principal owner of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Boyden's father, Gordon Gray, had recently founded the Bowman Gray (memorial) Medical School in Winston-Salem, using his inherited cigarette stock shares. The medical school was already a eugenics center.

As the experiment began, Gordon Gray's great aunt, Alice Shelton Gray, who had raised him from childhood, was living in his household. Aunt Alice had founded the `` Human Betterment League, '' the North Carolina branch of the national eugenical sterilization movement. Read More...

http://www.tarpley.net/bush3.htm

http://www.tarpley.net/bushb.htm#4%20--

[pnutbutr]

49. This is a problem with the schools not the Bush admin

At least be fucking honest here. :eyes:

Teachers are not trained in how to restrain unruly children if it becomes necessary. In the school district I work in they provide this training to teachers if they want it. Without the training the teachers are not supposed to touch the children so they stand by and watch fights happen etc... Most teachers do not attend the training. I went to one and there were only about 20 teachers from the entire school district there. With over 80 schools that is a pretty poor turnout. They should make this training mandatory for all teachers and school administrators.

[Odin2005]

52. This shit doesn't just happen in schools.

If I had a dollar for every incident of abuse I heard about at group homes for disabled adults I'd be a millionaire. Many of these individuals also suffer from neglect from staff that are mainly college students in it for the money and don't really give a shit.

[Wednesdays]

60. K&R

:kick: