Parents who alleged that their autistic children had been tied to chairs with bungee cords and duct tape in a Scranton-area schoolroom have agreed to settle a federal civil-rights suit for $5 million.The Age reports on a case in Australia:Plaintiffs' attorneys said the settlement reached Thursday appeared to be the largest ever in Pennsylvania involving the abuse of children in a special-education classroom.
A report issued last year by the U.S. Government Accountability Office said such cases were on the rise nationally. A bill in Congress would set standards for when and how children could be restrained in schools for their own safety or the safety of others.
The allegations in the Scranton-area case went beyond restraint.
The parents of seven children at the Clarks Summit Elementary School in the Abington Heights School District contended that teacher Susan Comerford Wzorek slapped children, pulled them by the hair, and deliberately stepped on the insoles of their feet.
In one instance, an attorney said Friday, the teacher pulled a child across the room by a cast on his broken arm.
"These children were nonverbal, so they were not in a position to go home and tell their parents what was happening," said James J. Conaboy, a Scranton lawyer for several of the plaintiffs.
POLICE handcuffed a 10-year-old autistic boy at a Geelong primary school after a breakdown in which he threw a compass that speared a classmate's leg.
The incident has sparked outrage from disability advocates, who say mainstream schools are struggling to cope with students with autism-spectrum disorders (ASD).
It comes as several parents are suing the state government under discrimination law and considering a class action over failure to provide adequate ASD support at school.
