By Grant Welker
Herald News Staff Reporter Posted Sep 15, 2010 @ 10:38 PM .fb_ltr{padding-top:10px;}
FALL RIVER —
A District Court jury found Westport special education teacher Renee Rego not guilty of allowing abuse of one of her students at the Macomber Primary School.
The decision, made Monday, ends a case that goes back to January 2008, when Rego and teaching aide Linda Liberty were charged with allegedly mistreating special education students. In May, Liberty was given a form of probation that would dismiss those charges if for two years she has no contact with the victim, doesn’t work in a classroom, and takes courses on how to work with autistic children.
Both teachers had their charges reduced from what was initially filed.
A month after the incidents, Rego’s original charge of permitting injury to a disabled person was changed to permitting abuse to a disabled person. Liberty, initially charged with assault and battery on a mentally handicapped person, was instead charged with simple assault and battery.
“We are very pleased with the result,” Rego’s attorney, Kenneth van Colen, said.
After the charges, Liberty was taken out of the Macomber School and moved to human relations in the district administration office. Rego remained teaching at the school.
Liberty, as part of the plea deal she agreed to in May, admitted to facts sufficient to warrant a guilty finding had the case gone to trial. If the requirements made under the plea are not met by the next scheduled hearing in May 2012, the court could go forward with a trial.
The two teachers were charged after a special-needs student’s parents and two other teachers told police that Liberty and Rego were abusive to some students. A substitute teacher in the class told police she saw “disturbing events,” including Liberty stepping on the feet of a student who kept removing his shoes because of sensory issues related to his disability.
The substitute “explained that she witnessed Ms. Liberty step on (the child’s) feet at least ‘twenty times’ during both days while she was wearing sneakers on her feet,” making the student “visibly in pain,” a police report said.
Rego told police that a way to keep the child from removing his shoes was to “go over to him and ‘tap his feet with their feet.’” The child’s mother told police that the foot tapping was inappropriate because it was not part of the student’s individual education plan. Rego was also accused of placing her fingers in a jar of peanut butter before putting them in a child’s mouth as a form of punishment because the child had eating issues.
In another incident, a paraprofessional said she saw Liberty “forcefully” grab a student by the arm as he came out of a bathroom. Liberty said the child was running so she put her arm up to stop him.
E-mail Grant Welker at gwelker@heraldnews.com.
Copyright 2010 Wicked Local Somerset. Some rights reserved
COMMENTS:
rokketman:
Teachers and parents both put their lives on the line every day to serve this population of children. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. Wait till one of them escapes and you failed to restrain them. Let's have some compassion here for the job these folks do. It is a haul every day. Some parents don't even get any sleep because the child never sleeps. Teachers are bound to a higher authority but it is a losing battle. You can only do this job for so long before it gets to you, parent or teacher. These folks deserve our respect and admiration. Every day is a new challenge and a judgment call. You do the best you can. You get up the next day and do it again and the next day again. You just put one foot in front of the other and pray each day that today isn't the day something like this happens.
DMB02878:
i do i agree with you on some aspects of your comment coming from a mom whom has a child that is autistic..it is a tough job for us parents and for the teachers..but i think that lot more educators and aids need to have little more knowledge of autism and how to work with these children do to it is very hard for everyone even the child whom sees and thinks in a different view and manner...yes ok i believe in restraining a child if need to be but when in doubt it is the time i think they need to be trained how to do it in the right way and form not by they way they think best..believe me you there is a lot of ways to restrain a child with out hurting them in anyway i do it for my son and have been trained by his behavior therapist..if the child was having sensory issues they should have done something about it by doing some sensory stuff with him instead of stepping on his feet etc. my son seeks sensory all the time and we introduce sensory input when that comes in play so he can regroup and focus again not add fuel to the fire by doing a stepping on feet to make the child more frustrated then he/she is already. children with autism have a hard time in this environment as is do to they don't know how to express their feelings and frustrations any other way besides melt downs and we have to be ok with that and redirect them or help them thru their issue. my son don't sleep we have to give him melatonin to sleep at night yes it is hard but that is the job they picked and as parents it is our job to advocate for our children..i just think more people need to be educated in all of this..when we go out to public places and our child had a melt down or is over whelmed he does stuff in weird ways to others and they just look and make comments, not knowing the whole situation. yes i give all these teachers and aides lots of credit don't get me wrong but i think they need to know little more. i deff. would not be ok with what happen if this was my child and it happened to him. there is much more i could say but i wont cuz it is too long. you are so true it is one day at a time and one foot in front of the other.
rcharles:
They deserve respect when they give respect to the children with these disabilities!!
WPT Townie:
If it isn't specified in a child's IEP it is not allowed. period. If parents had been reported for this DCF would be all over them!
rcharles:
You're exactly right, WPT Townie.
cgtruth:
Lets get a few facts correct. First, it was not a jury trial, the decision was made by the District Court Judge. I know this because I was there for the entire trial. Second, Mrs Rego was never charged with stuffing peanut butter in a young boy's mouth, I know this because that little boy is my son. I agree that a better understanding of autism will always benefit our children. However, the accuser stated in open court that you don't need special training to work with children with with autism and admitted she never had any specialized training. At this point I have no desire to get into a 'he said-she said' debate with anyone. Mrs. Rego was found not guilty simply because there was no evidence to support the claims of the accuser. Finally, for those of you who believe an IEP can cover every scenario of a childs day you are going through life with blinders on. We have to allow for some discretion, for some common sense, and we have to trust and support the educators who are working very hard to help our children reach the highest of goals, whatever they may be ?
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