GRAFTON – The parents of a Taylor County special needs student claim their son was restrained for more than 20 minutes at school to a chair with a gait belt.
Justin and Amanda Sharp filed their complaint April 25 in Taylor Circuit Court on behalf of their nine-year-old son, identified only as W.S., against the Taylor County Board of Education, Sara Sigley, Elvira Summers, Jessica Austin and Heather Sinclair.
“For 22 exhausting minutes, W.S. tried desperately to free himself while his teacher ate lunch and his one-on-one aide sat at a table on the other side of the classroom,” the complaint states. “W.S. was freed after his physical therapist entered the classroom and questioned the restraint.
Alan D. Moats
| courtswv.gov
“There was no just cause for the restraint, and the required legal protocols for the use of restrains were disregarded.”
According to the complaint, W.S. is a student at Anna Jarvis Elementary School in Grafton. He suffers from a traumatic brain injury, cortical visual impairment, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, muscular/skeletal impairment, physical/orthopedic impairment, speech impairment and vision impairment. He is dependent on adult support and close supervision for most tasks, and he uses a wheelchair or custom stander to move. He has a vocabulary of about 25 words.
Sigley was the boy’s teacher, and Summers is his one-on-one classroom aide. Austin is an aide for another special needs student, and Sinclair is principal of Anna Jarvis Elementary.
Video footage of the classroom from September 29, 2021 shows Sigley carrying W.S. across the room to sit him in a chair. Then, Austin leaves the classroom and returns with the gait belt, which Sigley and Austin wrap tightly around his midsection.
“Immediately after being bound to the chair, W.S. tried desperately to get the gait belt loose from around his midsection,” the complaint states. “W.S. pulled and tugged on the gait belt. When the gait belt did not loosen, W.S. grabbed the excess part of the gait belt and flipped it around furiously W.S. placed the excess part of the gait belt in his mouth, seemingly in a further struggle to free himself.
“W.S. rocked back and forth in the chair, causing it to bounce up and down and slide across the floor. W.S. was scared and upset.”
Sigley, meanwhile, sat at a table and began eating her lunch. At one point, she walked out of the classroom, leaving W.S. unattended.
Soon, Summers brought another special needs student into the classroom and seemingly started doing paperwork at the table, according to the complaint.
After 15 minutes or so, W.S. scooted the chair several feet backward and out of the frame of the video camera. He remained out of few for several minutes before Austin moved him back into view. But, W.S. scooted out of frame again before Austin brought him back into view again.
“Physical therapist Cara Noonan entered the special needs classroom and gestured toward W.S., appearing to question why W.S. was restrained to the chair,” the complaint states. “The gait belt was finally removed a short time after Ms. Noonan entered the special needs classroom.”
After the incident, his parents say W.S. exhibited significant changes in behavior at school.
The parents say they weren’t told of W.S. being restrained until five days later, and they say few details were provided. The state Department of Education investigated the situation. A February 8 letter from the DOE’s Office of Federal Programs and Support listed 12 violations of state law, policy and/or procedure.
The parents accuse all defendants of negligence, violations of the West Virginia Human Rights Act and reckless infliction of emotional distress. They also accuse the school board of negligent training and supervision.
They seek compensatory damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief. They also seek punitive damages from Sigley, Summers, Austin and Sinclair.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Jared T. Moore of The Moore Law Firm in Morgantown. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Alan Moats.
Taylor Circuit Court case number 22-C-15