LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A grandmother is suing the Clark County School District after private photos were taken and circulated of her middle school-aged grandson.
Bobby Steele says this happened after the district neglected their duty to accompany her autistic son to the restroom, which she says was clearly stated in his Individualized Education Plan, or “IEP.”
A special education advocate, who wanted to remain anonymous to protect her continued work in the Las Vegas Valley, describes an IEP as a plan that’s agreed upon between the school, teachers and parents, that’s built to make a child “as successful as they can be.”
She says the number of incidents similar to what happened to Steele’s grandson are growing Nevada and across the U.S.
Steele describes her grandson as sweet and passionate.
“He loves swimming, he just got a new bike from AMBUCS,” she says. “He likes bike riding now, he took off on us and we had to really hunt him down on his bike.”
We are not going to show his name or face to protect the privacy he has left, after the lawsuit Steele filed claims CCSD “breached its duties to monitor and protect” him, by allowing him to enter a restroom without supervision, where he was “bullied,” “humiliated,” and “photographed,” by other students.
“It really made me wonder, how much more was going on that just wasn’t exposed?” Steele says.
Steele says her grandson’s school knew he would often pull his pants down to his ankles when using the urinal. Because of that, she says it was clearly stated in his IEP that he needed supervision in the restroom. But the lawsuit claims he wasn’t supervised, when students took photos of him undressed while using the restroom, and sent them to other students at the school.
“They put it in a group chat, made a joke of it, they were all laughing, and ran off,” she says. “People think children with autism and special needs don’t have feelings or know what’s going on. They might not vocally be able to express themselves, but they know when they’re being made fun of.”
According to the lawsuit, students weren’t the only ones sending the photos. It claims one staff member “airdropped” them to her personal phone, and then emailed them to a CCSD Police Officer.
Steele says she still hasn’t seen the photos herself.
“That’s the thing that’s really troubling me, I don’t know what was done with the images,” Steele says. “Was he aware? Was he alert? How was he feeling? What was his state at that moment when that happened?
The advocate, who spent 30 years as a special education teacher and administrator, says this is a growing problem in the district, in part due to the shortfall of special education teachers.
“I think this year, we as advocates in the community predicted a rise, and that was because of how many positions were unfulfilled, and how many long term subs and people they were hiring to fill those,” she says.
But, she says a problem never has only one source.
“There’s funding, there’s the availability of special education teachers, there’s a general reduction in the amount of people going into education, period.”
She says parents can ask nonprofits, or special education advocates in the community, for help with their child’s IEP. If a problem arises with the IEP, she suggests parents should voice their concerns to the school right away.
“You’re going to be that child’s advocate for a long time until we start teaching them how to advocate for themselves,” she says.
Steele’s son didn’t go back to school last year after the incident occurred in March. This year, he started at a specialized autism school, and is in therapy to cope with what happened.
A CCSD spokesperson says they can’t comment on any pending litigation.
When FOX5 reached out about how the IEP process works in general, they sent several policies they follow, and a statement reading “the district provides the services outlined in a student’s IEP.”
You can find their full statement and link to each policy below:
The district has various policies and regulations that outline the expectations that educators have for developing instructional plans consistent with a student’s Individualized Educational Program (IEP). For example, Policy 6164, Regulation 6122.1, and Regulation 5121.1 are documents that outline the expectations related to Special Education and IEPs. The District provides the services outlined in a student’s IEP.
Copyright 2024 KVVU. All rights reserved.
