Image Credit: Google Earth & Canva.
Article by Paula Gomes, Tennessee Conservative News –
A Tennessee school district that allegedly violated the rights of an autistic five-year-old is being sued by the child’s parents.
Both Sumner County Schools (SCS) and an assistant principal are accused of failing to provide the behavioral support that the boy needed.
Ahead of his kindergarten year, the child’s parents requested a full-time one-on-one aide as well as necessary behavioral supports at H.B. Williams Elementary School. SCS did not provide either of these accommodations when the school year started.
When the boy acted out towards other students due to his disability, the school resource officer Larry Burke’s first course of action was to seek an aggravated assault charge through the juvenile justice system.
Incredibly, one of the statements Burke made about the incident points directly to the accused child’s autism diagnosis in that he displayed a “lack of empathy.”
While multiple children were affected during the incident, the school nurse later cleared them all and there were no injuries reported.
Despite the Sumner County District Attorney’s Office declining to pursue the charge, Brandon Smart, an assistant principal at Liberty High School whose children attended the same kindergarten class, filed a juvenile petition against the boy for new assault charges through a private prosecution.
According to the lawsuit, that petition was dismissed when a forensic evaluation found the child was not competent to proceed.
In Tennessee, there is no statute that sets a minimum age for a child to be charged with a crime.
The parents are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages against Smart, a jury trial and attorney fees for allegedly violating their son’s constitutional rights, Tennessee law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Rehabilitation Act.
SCS initially declined to provide the appropriate support for the boy as they said they needed to do their own evaluation. The district agreed with the parents that their son needed an aide only after several incidents over the first couple of months of school had occurred. By this time, the parents of the other children in his class were understandably upset.
Smart is being accused of First Amendment retaliation, along with malicious prosecution, abuse of process, violating the Equal Protection Clause, and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
Sources:
WSMV.
WKRN.
WATE.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
