CHARLESTON – A Wood County couple says school employees abused and restrained their 6-year-old autistic daughter.
The parents, identified only as G.B. and C.T., filed their complaint in federal court April 29 individually and as parents of M.T. against the Wood County Board of Education and Tena Martin.
According to the complaint, the girl was and is a special needs kindergarten student enrolled at Emerson Elementary School in Parkersburg in its special needs AU classroom. In 2022, she was diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder with Global Developmental Delay. It says she has trouble communicating. She is non-verbal, and she requires assistance with education and daily living activities. Martin was her teacher.
In September 2023, G.B. received multiple reports from day care staff that M.T. was arriving to after care with a wet diaper so full it leaked through her pants. This resulted in her suffering an injury and required a doctor visit, according to the complaint. G.B. was told by a school worker it was “down aides” for the special needs classroom.
The West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Special Education conducted an investigation, and a letter of findings was issued February 16. That letter says the Wood County school board committed several policy violations, including the improper response to the parents’ request to view video of the classroom, improper use of student restraints, lack of training on use of the restraints, improper notification documentation when a student was put in a restraint and failure to regularly change M.T.’s diaper.
The letter also says video of the classroom showed the teacher putting M.T. in a non-approved restraint, sitting on the floor with her arms around the student and her legs crossed over the student’s legs as M.T. was screaming and crying.
But, the complaint says the paperwork “was chocked full of lies” when compared to the video evidence, such as the video showing that several employees were involved in administering the restraint. It also shows that Martin falsely claimed M.T. “violently punched” her “multiple times.”
The West Virginia Board of Education reviewed the video evidence as well. The county school board suspended without pay Martin in October for “restraining her on the floor of your classroom for more than 40 minutes. Irrefutable video evidence demonstrates that the student’s behavior, while apparently annoying to you, did not present any danger to you, her or others.”
In a letter to Martin, the school board said there was no emergency and no need to restrain the girl.
“You also encouraged other employees – who were not present when the restraint began – to do likewise,” the letter states. “Naturally, by this time, the student was highly agitated because of your actions.”
The county school superintendent said she would recommend Martin be terminated, but she decided to retire.
The complaint says M.T. began acting out at home and at school after the incident. She was suspended on October 13 after hurting herself and hitting other students. This was before G.B. had viewed the classroom video.
The plaintiffs accuse the defendants of general negligence, civil battery and loss of filial consortium as well as disability harassment and discrimination in violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehab Act. They also say Martin violated M.T.’s Fourteenth Amendment right to bodily integrity, and they accuse the school board of negligent hiring and retention, negligent training, negligent supervision. They also file a tort of outrage.
The plaintiffs seek economic and non-economic compensatory damages, punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interests, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
They are being represented by Robert M. Bastress III of DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:24-cv-00220