Parents of Millsap ISD students file lawsuit over abuse of special-needs kids
Three parents of students who were enrolled in the Millsap Independent School District filed a lawsuit in federal court this week against the district, two former teachers and two administrators.
The parents, Carissa Cornelius, Vanessa Garcia and Whitney Price, are suing Millsap ISD over alleged physical and mental abuse their children endured in their school's special education classrooms, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Northern Texas U.S. District Court.
Named as defendants along with the school district are former superintendent Mari Edith Martin, Millsap Elementary School principal Roxie Carter, and Jennifer Dale and Paxton Bean, the two educators who were accused of abusing the kids.
Martin, Dale and Bean also face criminal charges and were arrested earlier this year.
The parents are suing on a total of nine counts. Against the school district, these include:
Failure to train
Failure to supervise
Violation of the right to bodily integrity
Discrimination and other violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Violation of the Rehabilitation Act
Dale and Bean are also being sued on five counts, including:
Violation of the right to bodily integrity
Discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Assault
Battery
Negligent discipline
The parents claim that the school district did not provide Bean and Dale with training on proper discipline, crisis prevention or positive behavioral techniques specific to children with special needs. They were still assigned to work in a special education classroom, the lawsuit says. The parents also say that the school did not supervise how its teachers interacted with and disciplined students with special needs.
The lawsuit alleges that Millsap ISD, Bean and Dale violated the children's right to bodily integrity 'as they were subject to physical and mental assault by state actors.' It also states that all three discriminated against the students for their disabilities.
Finally, the two teachers are accused of assault, battery and negligent discipline, according to the lawsuit.
'By all accounts, these children are beautiful, bright, and deserved the world. Instead, they were treated like animals; physically and verbally abused, and subject to sexual denigration by their teachers,' the lawsuit states.
Millsap ISD has not yet responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit. Attorneys for the other defendants are not listed in the court documents and could not immediately be reached for comment.
The school came under fire after a video showing Dale and Bean appearing to hit a child went viral, the Star-Telegram previously reported.
The video, taken on Feb. 19, shows Dale swinging at Alex Cornelius, a 10-year-old boy who has autism and is non-verbal, and Bean yelling and throwing a toy at him, according to court documents.
A teaching assistant filmed the incident without the two teachers' knowledge and reported it to Martin the same day, according to the complaint.
Cornelius shared the allegations and the video on Facebook on March 10. Along with the alleged abuse displayed in the video, Cornelius also told the Star-Telegram that her son was showered at the school without her consent and that the teachers called him names and made comments about his genitalia.
Martin, according to her arrest warrant, contacted a law firm for an external investigation. She did not file a report with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services or the Parker County Sheriff's Office, both of which are required by state law.
Martin reported allegations involving Dale to the Texas Education Agency on Feb. 28. A report including allegations against Bean was filed on March 3.
Texas state law requires that suspected abuse be reported within 48 hours.
Cornelius said she was not made aware of the allegations until the teaching assistant brought the video to her. The Sheriff's Office told the Star-Telegram that it first became aware of the allegations on March 4, when Cornelius reported the abuse to them.
The Parker County Sheriff's Office discovered at least two other students — the children of the other plaintiffs — who experienced abuse from Bean and Dale, according to arrest warrant affidavits.
Whitney Price, another plaintiff in the lawsuit, told police that on Jan. 16, school staff told her that her 8-year-old son had gotten a bloody nose from running into a wall. When police read the nurse's log, Bean had said that the boy threw a fit and hit his nose on either a wall or her arm. Price said her son told her that Bean had punched him in the nose.
Victoria Garcia, the third plaintiff in the lawsuit, said that her 6-year-old daughter was another victim. According to the affidavits, a teacher's aide heard Dale call the girl a vulgar name and tell her that she wanted to 'put her hands around the child's neck and squeeze.'
Both teachers and Martin were arrested in March. Martin was charged with a felony of failure to report with the intent to conceal. Dale was charged with official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor, and Bean was charged with official oppression and injury to a child with intentional bodily injury, a third-degree felony.
Martin resigned from her position as superintendent without severance pay in March.
All three women were released on bond, the Star-Telegram reported.
The initial TEA report from Martin did not include Bean's name, according to the lawsuit. Bean is the daughter of Carter, the Millsap Elementary principal.
Bean is now working at another school in Waxahachie, according to the lawsuit. Carter wrote a recommendation letter for her position there.
Millsap ISD has since approved a policy disallowing employees from evaluating, hiring or working with immediate family members on the same campus.
The parents are asking for a jury trial and compensation for medical expenses, physical impairment and pain, and mental anguish, leaving it up to a jury to decide the exact amount of damages, the complaint stated.
Cornelius told the Star-Telegram on Wednesday that she is now permanently homeschooling her son, Alex. 'We now have no trust in anyone when it comes to our children,' Cornelius said.
She described how her son now experiences a lot of anxiety, and he will wake up in the morning afraid that he will go back to school. She said both she and her son are now in therapy.
'It's not about the money,' Cornelius said about the lawsuit. 'It's about holding them accountable for what they did.'
Cornelius believes that more laws need to be passed for the safety of students, including having cameras in every special needs classroom and requiring that teachers undergo a psychiatric evaluation during the hiring process. 'I think that until that, and until we start holding teachers accountable for their actions, then nothing is ever going to change,' she said.
Cornelius said she hopes that this lawsuit gets the children justice and shows Millsap ISD, as well as other schools, that they can not mess with their children.
'Our kids may not be able to talk, but we sure can,' Cornelius said.
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