Latest news with #Sestito
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Yahoo
Lawsuit claims Marion County teacher assaulted child with autism
FAIRMONT — Criminal charges against the person at the center of the lawsuit against the Marion County School Board alleging child assault stalled because police cannot find her. The parents of an autistic child filed a lawsuit against the Marion County Board of Education on Thursday, alleging the school district covered up an incident where Teresa Sestito, a special needs teacher, assaulted a 7th grade student at West Fairmont Middle School on Aug. 25, 2023. The child has a nonverbal form of autism. The lawsuit alleges the Fairmont Police Department signed and filed a criminal complaint on Sept. 20, 2023. 'The police were just unable to find her,' City Communications Manager David Kirk said. 'They made multiple attempts to find her at her listed address and she was even one of the individuals the department sought out during the 'Spring Cleaning' arrests, but officers were unable to find her whereabouts.' Kirk said Sestito was charged with felony battery and assault of a disabled child. Sestito gave a statement to police on Sept. 1 while on leave from the school system. The criminal complaint was not present at either the Marion County Circuit Clerk or Magistrate Court offices. The lawsuit argues Sestito's actions fit the definition of a felony crime. 'Defendant Sestito has not been asked to answer her alleged crimes in criminal court,' the lawsuit states. 'That is, the criminal process/complaint seems to have stalled out, without a warrant or execution of the same, and without any sort of progress.' The lawsuit states on Aug. 25, Sestito was working with the child when an incident occured. It's not clear what the incident was, but it caused Sestito to fly into rage and retaliate against the student. She threw a binder, a Microsoft Go, a notebook and a pen at the student before shoving the student to the ground, according to the suit. '[The child] lay in a helpless and prone position on the hallway floor, for at least 30 seconds, and presumably much longer before camera footage turns off,' the suit states. The principal of West Fairmont Middle sent Sestito home in lieu of an investigation. A Fairmont Police officer created a report on the date of the incident, and on Sept. 1, 2023 Sestito gave a statement to the police. The lawsuit characterizes the statement as self-serving. Police filed the report on Sept. 20, 2023. However, the report never progressed from there. Police never arrested Sestito for the assault. The lawsuit accuses Marion County Board of Education of doing little to nothing to investigate the incident despite informing Fairmont Police they would be provided with the results of an investigation, and moreover, never notified the child's parents of what happened. The parents only became aware after the Department of Health and Human Resources contacted them about the investigation their agency was conducting. The suit states video footage of the assault wasn't properly preserved, and the school district only allowed the parents to view footage of the assault after the parents retained legal counsel, more than one year after the incident. Minutes from a Sept. 18, 2023 board meeting show Sestito was suspended indefinitely. The suit states a press release from the Board confirmed Sestito's separation from employment. One year later, on Sept. 16, 2023, minutes show the Board approved Sestito's resignation. The lawsuit states it's not clear if she was fired, suspended or allowed to resign. It's not clear if School Superintendent Donna Heston ever notified the Board of Education about the circumstances of the assault. 'I don't remember anything that she said to me about that in a direct way,' Board President George Boyles said. Boyles began his tenure on the board in 2022. Heston declined to comment on ongoing litigation, and instead referred questions to attorney Susan Llewellyn Deniker of the Steptoe & Johnson law firm. Deniker did not return a phone call by press time. The lawsuit charges the school district with negligence and recklessness, negligent hiring, training and supervision and retention, civil assault and battery, disability discrimination, intentional affliction of emotional distress and loss of filial consortium. The plaintiff asks for compensatory damages for future economic and noneconomic harm as well as for severe mental anguish and emotional distress. Chirag Desai, the plaintiff's attorney, declined to comment. The lawsuit accuses Marion County Schools of operating under a veil of secrecy. According to the lawsuit, the child's parents found bruises and cuts on their child prior to the incident that was caught on surveillance camera. The lawsuit points out that due to the child's inability to speak, and the Board's failure to investigate the full extent of Sestito's conduct, the truth regarding any additional instances may never be found out. 'The Marion County BOE's disingenuous response to the abuse incident reflects a system pattern of lack of the due care and protection of vulnerable, non-verbal special needs kids like [the child,]' the complaint states.... Plaintiffs hereby bring this civil action because sunlight is the best disinfectant, and these defendants must be held accountable for the harm caused to their family.'
Axios
03-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Untangling safety from AI security is tough, experts say
Recent moves by the U.S. and the U.K. to frame AI safety primarily as a security issue could be risky, depending on how leaders ultimately define "safety," experts tell Axios. Why it matters: A broad definition of AI safety could encompass issues like AI models generating dangerous content, such as instructions for building weapons or providing inaccurate technical guidance. But a narrower approach might leave out ethical concerns, like bias in AI decision-making. Driving the news: The U.S. and the U.K. declined to sign an international AI declaration at the Paris summit this month that emphasized an "open," "inclusive" and "ethical" approach to AI development. Vice President JD Vance said at the summit that "pro-growth AI policies" should be prioritized over AI safety regulations. The U.K. recently rebranded its AI Safety Institute as the AI Security Institute. And the U.S. AI Safety Institute could soon face workforce cuts. The big picture: AI safety and security often overlap, but where exactly they intersect depends on perspective. Experts universally agree that AI security focuses on protecting models from external threats like hacks, data breaches and model poisoning. AI safety, however, is more loosely defined. Some argue it should ensure models function reliably — like a self-driving car stopping at red lights or an AI-powered medical tool correctly identifying disease symptoms. Others take a broader view, incorporating ethical concerns such as AI-generated deepfakes, biased decision-making, and jailbreaking attempts that bypass safeguards. Yes, but: Overly rigid definitions could backfire, Chris Sestito, founder and CEO of AI security company HiddenLayer, tells Axios. "We can't be flippant and just say, 'Hey, this is just on the bias side and this is on the content side,'" Sestito says. "It can get very out of control very quickly." Between the lines: It's unclear which AI safety initiatives may be deprioritized as the U.S. shifts its approach. In the U.K., some safety-related work — such as preventing AI from generating child sexual abuse materials — appears to be continuing, says Dane Sherrets, AI researcher and staff solutions architect at HackerOne. Sestito says he's concerned that AI safety will be seen as a censorship issue, mirroring the current debate on social platforms. But he says AI safety encompasses much more, including keeping nuclear secrets out of models. Reality check: These policy rebrands may not meaningfully change AI regulation. "Frankly, everything that we have done up to this point has been largely ineffective anyway," Sestito says. What we're watching: AI researchers and ethical hackers have already been integrating safety concerns into security testing — work that is unlikely to slow down, especially given recent criticisms of AI red teaming in a DEF CON paper. But the biggest signals may come from AI companies themselves, as they refine policies on whom they sell to and what security issues they prioritize in bug bounty programs.
