YES, THERE IS CHILD ABUSE IN THE CLASSROOM
Psychological and physical abuse is alive
and well in our government schools. Most
school districts will sweep reported abuse under the carpet. Heaven forbid that the taxpayers and parents
should find out about any potential scandals in their schools. After all, it is far more important to
protect that tenured teacher and the union than to protect a child.
If a parent does complain or ask
questions, they are made to feel totally inadequate as a parent. They are told over and over “to allow the
system to work and allow the professionals do their job.”
Psychological abuse comes in many forms
and is easy to hide. The children are usually
not even aware that they are being deliberately targeted for a purpose. Most parents are afraid to ask questions for
fear that their child will become a target.
In 2012 a friend of mine asked me for
advice regarding a matter involving a serious child abuse situation in her
district. She had been contacted by an
aide who had been an eye witness to the abuse. In 2011 that teacher’s aide had contacted
the proper administrators in the district, but nothing was done.
My advice to my friend was for her to
request documents that would give her some insight into the strategy being used
by the administration and the school board.
With certain information she would be able to follow a trail as to how the
district was covering up the abuse.
Eventually it was determined that the parents of the children were never
notified of the abuse to their children.
For this reason, the district did not want the case to be exposed to the
public.
My
friend had to consult with an attorney in order to obtain many of the
records. The district used the taxpayer’s
money to pay lawyers to take the denial of records requests all the way to the
Ohio Supreme Court. (This case was
filed by my friend on January 22, 2013.)
The district refused her records
request in order to protect the image
of the district (a blue ribbon labeled
district) rather than the children.
(After all, they wanted to be able to pass tax levies.)
The
case determined that the special education teacher was allowed to resign with a
glowing recommendation from the Assistant Superintendent.
Tina Blair, Assistant Superintendent
“To Whom It May Concern:
__Ms. Doe _ was employed by the
Kings Local School District Board of Education as a certified Special Education
Instructor teaching multi-handicapped students from August 17, 2007 to August
2, 2012. During Ms. Doe’s_ time of employment with the Kings Local School
District Board of Education , she demonstrated performance which was either
proficient or distinguished in all domains of her performance evaluations. This includes planning and preparation,
instruction, classroom environment and professional responsibilities. Additionally, Ms. Doe was
rated distinguished in demonstrating knowledge of students, demonstrating
flexibility and responsiveness in instruction, creating an environment of
respect and rapport, and communicating with families.
If you have any additional questions
concerning Ms. Doe’s employment, please contact
the undersigned.
KINGS
LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD
OF EDUCATION
By: Tina Blair, Assistant Superintendent”
Amanda R. Kitcho
On January 6, 2012
Superintendent Valerie M. Browning notified the teacher that she was being
placed on administrative leave. She
stated that the teacher would receive full pay and benefits. She also stated that the teacher would not be
allowed on school property without permission.
The teacher was paid
her full salary and benefits until August 2, 2012. Additionally, the board signed an agreement
with the teacher on that date accepted her resignation with agreements. Some of the agreements:
They agreed to provide her with the reference quoted above and to
respond to inquiries by the terms in that letter.
They released her from any and all liability, claims, demands or
controversies of any kind which the Board may have or claim to have arising out
or relating to Ms. Doe’s employment with the Board.
The agreement does not constitute an admission of any kind whatsoever by
any party.
The board will not oppose receipt of unemployment benefits.
The board will respond to inquiries by the media and others that Ms. Doe
resigned for personal reasons and an investigation revealed no
wrongdoing on her part.
The special needs of the children in Ms.
Doe’s class included those with physical and mental handicaps, including being
in protective chairs, wheelchairs, as well as non-verbal and developmentally
disabled.
The parents were never notified that their children were victims of abuse in Ms.
Kitcho’s classroom. When the attorney
called the parents they had no idea that their child had been abused by someone
that was supposed to be helping them.
On January 20, 2014 a case was filed in Federal Court in Cincinnati
accusing the teacher of torture.
Amanda R. Kitcho, special education
teacher at Columbia Elementary, Kings Local School District, has been reported
to scream at the students that she hated them, ate their lunches in front of
them, duct-taped one to a chair, and refused to allow a child to use her walker
to get to the bathroom, saying, “Let her crawl.” One witness described it as like watching “a
dying dog trying to get to the side of the road. That’s how pathetic it looked to me.” The same child was crying and screaming to be
let out of the bathroom and Ms. Kitcho screamed back “I hate you.” Kitcho would duct-tape the child in her
special chair and make her stay in the bathroom for prolonged periods of time as
punishment. If the child managed to get
out of the special chair Ms. Kitcho would hold the door so she couldn’t get out
of the bathroom. All of that time the
child would be screaming and crying.
She would let the child scream and cry until she was too tired to scream
anymore.
It is reported that she refused to allow
one child to use the bathroom causing him to wet his pants. She would eat the children’s cookies in
front of them. She would throw their
possessions in the trash – then taunt them.
She would provoke and startle them into escalating behaviors, lied to
them, deprived them of snacks and otherwise abused and ignored the
multi-handicapped children in her classroom.
Parents would send a special luncheon for their child and she would eat
it in front of the child.
Parents of the four other children in the
case say that Kitcho ridiculed their child by making fun of their clothes,
stealing their snacks, neglecting them when they needed to use the bathroom and
even ignoring them during episodes of vomiting and seizures.
The current principal of Columbia
Elementary, Shelley Detmer-Bogaert (she
was the Assistant Principal at the time), walked into the classroom and heard
the child screaming. She walked out and
did nothing, allowing the abuse to continue.
She is accused of participating in the cover-up.
The mother of the child that was forced
to crawl warned Ms. Kitcho that it was detrimental to the child’s health to
crawl. This child has a very rare and serious
congenital disease that involves brain shrinking. The parents reported that their daughter was
a happy child until Amanda Kitcho became her teacher. Then she went into withdrawal and refused to
speak. They moved to Utah and the child
is slowly recovering from her withdrawal symptoms.
These parents were told when their
daughter was a baby that the disease would not allow their daughter to live
very long. They were preparing for her
death because of the tremendous change in her personality. Imagine that trauma to the family.
The aide and the librarian went over and
over to the principal and reported the abuse.
The principal did nothing There
were three separate investigations: the school, the county prosecutor and the
Ohio Department of Education. Not one
of these agencies notified the parents.
All of these agencies swept the case under the rug. In fact, the legal team checked the Ohio
Department of Education web site and Ms. Kitcho still had her license to teach.
The district was hoping that the parents (and public) would never know what
happened in that classroom.
Five children are involved in the
lawsuit. How many more were there
suffering during Ms. Kitcho’s stint at Columbia Elementary. How many more teachers have been allowed to
abuse helpless children that cannot speak for themselves?
Yes, there is child abuse in the classroom and it is usually covered up so that no one will find out. The abusers are almost always allowed to
move on to another district. Because of
tenure it is very difficult to fire a teacher or administrator. Like Amanda Kitcho, they are given glowing
recommendations and moved on to abuse other children.
Superintendent, Browning
They said that Ms. Kitcho was “proficient
or distinguished in all domains of her performance evaluations.” That was a lie. They said she was distinguished in
demonstrating knowledge of students, demonstrating knowledge of students,
demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness in instruction, creating an
environment of respect and rapport, and communicating with families.” That was a blatant lie.
The board, superintendent, assistant superintendent
(who signed the letter) knew full well that Amanda Kitcho was none of those
things. In fact they never even
communicated the situation to the parents.
Kings School Board
Yes, there is child abuse in the classroom and it is usually covered up so that no one will find out. The abusers are almost always allowed to
move on to another district. Because of
tenure it is very difficult to fire a teacher or administrator. Like Amanda Kitcho, they are given glowing
recommendations and moved on to abuse other children.
They said that Ms. Kitcho was “proficient
or distinguished in all domains of her performance evaluations.” That was a lie. They said she was distinguished in
demonstrating knowledge of students, demonstrating knowledge of students,
demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness in instruction, creating an
environment of respect and rapport, and communicating with families.” That was a blatant lie.
The board, superintendent, assistant superintendent
(who signed the letter) knew full well that Amanda Kitcho was none of those
things. In fact they never even
communicated the situation to the parents.
Yes, there is child abuse in the
classroom. You can bet it is happening
in your school district, but it has been and will continue to be swept under the rug.
Valerie Browning, Superintendent
happening
in your school district, but it will be swept under the rug.
