Death at School: Parents Fight Back Against Deadly Discipline

[No Elephants]

Death at School: Parents Fight Back Against Deadly Discipline
By ANGELA M. HILL, BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
Nov. 30, 2012

Parents of children who have died or been injured while being manhandled, held down or locked up in America's public schools are fighting back.

Dozens have filed lawsuits and many are speaking out publicly to end what they say is an epidemic of harsh measures being used in schools to subdue unruly or aggressive children – many of whom suffer from autism or other disabilities. They are mothers like Sheila Foster, whose 16-year-old son died after being restrained, allegedly for refusing to leave the basketball court at his school in Yonkers, just outside New York City.

"I know I won't feel him hug me anymore, or say, 'I love you, mommy,'" a tearful Sheila Foster, Corey's mother, told ABC News. "Someone has to be held accountable for this because my son is dead. And this shouldn't happen anymore to another child, to another family."

WATCH 'Nightline': Students Hurt, Dying After Being Restrained

Foster has sued Leake & Watts, a special needs facility for students with behavioral and learning disabilities. The school has defended the actions of its staff, despite the tragic outcome. Surveillance video made public earlier this month shows the teenager playing basketball in the school gym alongside other students and staff members. Minutes later he is surrounded by school staff in a corner of the gym where it appears he is pushed against the wall and then restrained face down by four staff members. Nearly 45 minutes later he was removed from the gym on a stretcher.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/death-school-autism-parents-fight-back-deadly-discipline/story?id=17841322#.ULnhnoYhTrc

Congress is contemplating a law, but public schools say it is too restrictive. I wonder if, for this purpose, charter schools are considered "public schools."

A kid's refusal to leave the basketball court should not receive a death sentence.

Note: If you watch the video, you will hear a horrible scream in the beginning. While the entire video is hard to watch, it is not that piercing thoroughout.

[Enthusiast]

1. There is no justification for this sort of behavior.

I know, duh.