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Monday, October 26, 2009

Sunshine could help reassure special-needs community | greatfallstribune.com | Great Falls Tribune


Sunshine could help reassure special-needs community greatfallstribune.com Great Falls Tribune:

"There is no doubt that confidence in Great Falls Public Schools' special education programs has been shaken by the allegations of abuse leveled against a couple of special ed aides"

The two women have been charged in court with one felony and one misdemeanor assault charge apiece, and we'll have to wait to see how that turns out.

Agreement by the district to allow a reporter to visit special ed classrooms last Friday was a step in the direction that will best restore confidence in the program: shining light on all aspects of it. Those visits resulted in articles in Sunday's Tribune by reporter Eric Newhouse, and they still can be viewed at http://www.gftrib.com/.

Such sunlight was what state Rep. Bill Wilson's sought with his request of the state attorney general last week to take the lead in a criminal investigation of the case in which two aides allegedly put the head of a recalcitrant 13-year-old autistic student under the tap in the classroom sink.

"I believe the best disinfectant is sunlight," Wilson wrote to Attorney General Steve Bullock, "and quite frankly, it is sorely lacking here."
The Democratic representative was responding to the common perception, after charges were filed against the aides, that the investigation had been conducted in-house, by a school resource officer who is a policeman but who works full time in the schools.