LaPorte school district settles lawsuit claiming teachers restrained an autistic child

Oct. 14—A LaPorte couple who accused teachers at the LaPorte Community school district of restraining their daughter, who has autism, with a wooden structure in 2017 reached a settlement with the district earlier this week.

In their lawsuit, Heather and William Castle said the staff members at Kingsford Heights Elementary School placed wooden partitions, covered with a felt-like material, around their daughter Kennedi's desk to prevent her from getting up during class.

The case was scheduled to go to trial Monday after four years of litigation, however, the two sides agreed to a settlement and asked for the case to be dismissed with the pool of jurors already present in the courthouse.

"We're very happy with the settlement," said Heather Castle. "Of course, the settlement is for Kennedi. It's something no family or child should have to go through; it shouldn't be like this."

Corbin Fowler, an attorney representing the Castles, declined to provide the Tribune with the terms of the settlement, saying the agreement prevented him from disclosing the information.

Fowler said the settlement came about at the last minute because his clients had to "prove to them that we had a good case."

"I think the closer we got to trial, the more they got to realize that they were in fact wrong and a jury was likely to agree with us," Fowler said, noting that the settlement does not require LaPorte Community Schools to admit wrongdoing.

The Castles are receiving a payout from the district that will go toward paying for "services Kennedi needs moving forward," Heather Castle said.

The settlement agreement does not stipulate the district make any specific policy changes regarding instruction for students with disabilities, but Kennedi's family hopes the case will lead to changes.

"We hope this case helps other children. They learned what not to do," Heather Castle said.

A spokeswoman for the LaPorte County School District did respond to multiple requests for comment on the settlement.

Kevin Vanderground, an attorney who represents the school district, said Thursday the district still denies the Castles' allegations that their daughter was ever restrained.

'Restraint chair'

The lawsuit, filed in 2018, alleged that Kennedi's parents noticed she started having nightmares and hated to wear a seatbelt or participate in any structured activities, the lawsuit said. They also noticed some small abrasions around her midsection.

Kennedi was 7 at the time and cannot effectively communicate her thoughts due to her disability, the lawsuit said.

A week after the change in Kennedi's behavior, William Castle slipped past the principal and went to Kennedi's classroom. When he got there, he found a desk with Kennedi's name on it. Underneath the seat was a raised wooden platform, and the desk top had boards forming partitions on two sides.

William Castle also saw a belt on the desk, presumably used to strap Kennedi into the chair to restrict her movement, the complaint says.

The Castles' complaint says teachers working with Kennedi confined the girl to the "restraint chair" for extended periods of time over more than five days.

Indiana law allows school staff members to restrict a child's movement only as a last resort in response to "an immediate risk of injury," or if the child's parents agreed beforehand to such measures.

Schools should only restrain a child for a short period of time, according to state guidelines, and restraint should not be used routinely to address behavioral problems, such as students being disrespectful or leaving their seats.

State code also requires schools to inform parents when restraint is used on their child.

After William Castle discovered the desk, he and his wife met with school administrators and Kennedi's teachers who apologized for failing to inform the parents. However, they denied they had harmed Kennedi, saying the teacher had acted in Kennedi's best interest, the Castles previously told the Tribune.

The Castles have since moved to Valparaiso and currently homeschool Kennedi, who is now 11.

Lawmakers and educators around the country have placed increasing scrutiny on the use of restraint and seclusion. In 2012, students were subjected to physical restraint or seclusion at least 267,000 times around the country, according to federal data examined by ProPublica, a journalism nonprofit. Those cases included tactics such as handcuffs, duct tape and isolation rooms.

In 2013, the Indiana General Assembly created the Commission on Seclusion and Restraint in Schools, which drafted the model policies for local schools. Lawmakers required school corporations to create their own policies to follow the state guidelines, and to track and report to the state their annual uses of restraint and seclusion.

In the 2016-2017 school year, LaPorte Community Schools reported six uses of restraint and no uses of seclusion, according to state data.

Email Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@sbtinfo.com. Follow him on Twitter: @marek_mazurek

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