Texas parents want school's explanation of their non-verbal child's bruises

From the Galveston Daily News in Texas:

GALVESTON, Texas — Darren and Michelle Smith said they won’t send their 13-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy and can’t speak, back to school until the district explains how she got bruised last month.

The Galveston school district police department investigated claims by the Smiths that their daughter, Carlie Smith (pictured), was abused at Austin Middle School on Nov. 11 after the girl came home with dark bruises that wrapped around her biceps. Police dropped the case after deciding the injuries were self-inflicted, district police chief LeeRoy Amador said.

But the Smiths said their daughter, who sometimes requires a brace to walk, is not strong enough to inflict the deep, dark bruises on herself. They also wonder why, if she did it herself, nobody noticed she was doing it.

“If nothing else, the district is guilty of total neglect,” Darren Smith said.

The district declined to comment beyond what was reported on the first page of the police report, the only part of the five-page document available through the Texas Open Records Act. The one-paragraph report states district police took a report at 4:30 p.m. from parents who wanted to file assault charges involving their daughter at Austin Middle School.

“This allegation was thoroughly investigated by the Galveston ISD police department and, from the aforementioned investigation, the charge was unfounded,” the report states.

Citing privacy laws, the district also declined to release the full report to the parents.

Darren and Michelle Smith said they received a phone call Nov. 11 from school district officials who said Carlie Smith had unexplained bruises on her arms. When her aunt picked Carlie up from school, she had tears running down her face, Darren Smith said. School officials couldn’t explain how she got the bruises, he said.

District policy calls for teachers and staff members to report all injuries to students to a school nurse for medical attention and administrator, spokesman Johnston Farrow said.

The administrator then calls the parents of the injured child. If the administrator suspects wrongdoing, he contacts the school district police department.

The policy was properly followed in this case, Farrow said.

Principal Cathy Van Ness called school police about the bruises, he said.

The school district police department was unable to take the report that day from the parents, so the Smiths called the Galveston Police Department to document the injuries.

Galveston police declined to release the report, citing laws protecting juveniles. But, the Smiths said the officer who took the report said Carlie’s bruises appeared to have been made by the fingers of an adult man.

The Galveston police turned over all records to Child Protective Services, which is investigating the case, regional spokeswoman Gwen Carter said. The results of that investigation will be turned over only to the Texas Education Agency and Superintendent Lynne Cleveland, she said.

The Smiths also filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency, but the agency could not confirm or deny it was investigating the case.

At the request of the parents, Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, also is looking into the matter in an effort to make sure Child Protective Services, the Texas Education Agency, Galveston school district and the district’s police department are all aware of the case and communicating, he said.

“There’s nothing officially we can do, but we try to make sure everyone is aware of the claims and allegations,” he said.

Eiland said he also had a difficult time believing that Carlie’s injuries were self inflicted.

“It looked like someone grabbed her arm real hard,” he said. “I just don’t know.”

The Smiths said their daughter has no history of causing injuries to herself. Although the district has documented instances where she has scratched and tugged the hair of other children and teachers, she is not strong enough to do much harm, her parents said.

This is the not the first time the Smiths have complained that Carlie was abused at school.

When Carlie attended school in Joaquin school district in East Texas, she came home one day with a tuft of her hair missing. The parents said they complained to the district, and the special-needs teacher was fired for yanking out a chunk of Carlie’s hair. The district’s superintendent, Phil Worsham, did not return a message seeking comment.