Special education student ‘jumped’ in Harrisburg classroom, hasn’t been back since, mom says

Patriot-News - 12/21/2021

A Harrisburg School District mother wants answers, but isn’t getting any, after her 12-year-old daughter was reportedly attacked by four students in a classroom at Camp Curtin Academy.

The mother’s fears for her daughter’s safety have kept the girl out of school since the incident more than eight weeks ago. The girl has autism and the only solution offered by the district so far, said Fallon Russ, was for her daughter to change schools.

Her daughter, however, thrives under consistency, so forcing her into a new school amid all new faces without her specialized teachers wasn’t an option, Russ said. Private schools also aren’t an option because they don’t receive federal funding and aren’t required to provide an Individualized Education Program.

That has left Fallon in a standoff with the school district. Meanwhile, her daughter’s education is falling behind, two months and counting.

“She is very emotionally hurt and depressed by the whole thing,” her mother said.

The bullying incident with Russ’ daughter happened amid an apparent uptick in fights and incidents in the Harrisburg School District this year that prompted the district to shut down early for Thanksgiving for a “reset.” The superintendent has shared videotaped messages with parents this school year discussing additional turmoil, which he attributed to the pandemic.

“The pandemic has caused students to be isolated, a lot of family stress, and in how students are dealing with that in school, this year, is something we never seen before as a district, or as a country,” Truman said in a Nov. 29 statement.

He asked parents to reinforce with their children the message that: “School must be a safe place. And the physical fights that are occurring now are simply not acceptable, and moving forward, will not be tolerated.”

What’s so upsetting to Russ about her situation is that she tried to warn school officials ahead of time that her daughter was becoming a target of bullying. She emailed then-Principal Leroy McClain three days before the attack and said two students had been “messing with her” daughter every day.

“On Friday, one of the boys in her class hit her in the head in class for no reason at all,” Russ wrote in an Oct. 19 email she shared with PennLive. “She said the teacher did nothing about it and this has been an ongoing thing. She is autistic and receives special education. I have been trying to get in touch but there is no reply when trying to call the school’s number. I need a new IEP in place for my daughter immediately.”

Russ said she got no response. Then on Friday, Oct. 22, her daughter was jumped in her seventh-grade classroom, she said.

According to Russ, three teachers watched without taking action, while other students stepped in to control the brawl.

“Two boys came to her desk, took her lunch, her book bag and dumped everything out on the ground,” Russ said. “Four kids jumped her, and nobody broke it up.... Actually, kids broke it up and then one of the teachers sent her in the hallway and told her to go to the counselor’s office.”

Russ said it was difficult for her daughter to find the counselor’s office after the altercation.

“She doesn’t even know how to really get around the school because she didn’t know where the counselor office was. Somebody found her wandering around the hallway and when she explained to them what happened they took her to the counselors office.”

Russ said she might not have become aware of the full extent of the altercation if it weren’t for her daughter’s teacher aide, who discovered the 12-year-old wandering in the hallway after the fight.

A classmate videotaped the attack and turned it over to the teacher’s aide.

The day after the attack, Russ heard back from the principal, Leroy McClain.

“Good Evening,” the email started, “For some reason this email went to my junk email. Not sure why.

“I will forward your request to have your daughters IEP updated. I’ve copied the special education supervisor in on this email. If someone is bothering your student it is taken seriously. Our counselors are available and accommodations can and will be made to make sure all students are safe. It was brought to my attention that an incident happened on Friday. I’m gathering all of the information and I’ll be in touch Monday.”

Russ said McClain did not follow-up with her as promised.

“Monday came and nothing, her dad went up there and he (the principal) was still saying he didn’t know what happened. But the aide said he was well aware of what happened,” said Russ.

Russ said the school never gave her a full accounting of what happened in the classroom and would not share the video evidence.

“Her father also asked for a report,” Russ said. “They handed him a piece of paper with about two sentences on it, saying that’s the report

Five days later, the district moved McClain to a position as assistant principal of the district’s cyber school. A new principal, Eugene Spells, was introduced to Camp Curtin staff on Oct. 29.

Harrisburg School District officials declined to comment on Camp Curtin’s change in leadership. District officials also would not answer specific questions from PennLive about the attack, including whether teachers in the room had current restraint certification to be able to safely intervene in fights and attacks.

Instead, shortly after the incident, district spokeswoman Kirsten Keys provided a prepared statement:

“The central administration of the Harrisburg School District is actively investigating a report of a serious student bullying incident at Camp Curtain Academy. The school district has been in contact with the parent as part of its ongoing investigation. The school district, with the support and cooperation of parents, guardians, and the community must partner to ensure all students understand that bullying, whether inside or outside the school setting, is not appropriate and will not be tolerated. The school district has no further comment at this time.”

The altercation with Russ’ daughter happened in the 12-year-old’s “transition classroom,” her mother said. At Camp Curtin, special education students must wait in a classroom before their assigned teacher’s aide comes to help them to their next classroom.

“So when this happened, that teacher was on the way down to get them,” Russ said. “And before the teacher got there, that’s when this happened.”

Russ is frustrated, because she believes the situation could have been prevented if the bullying was addressed when she notified the principal.

“I made him well aware, and I contacted special education. He said he would look into it, he never got back to me and never responded to anything and then this happens.”

Russ said staff members didn’t take her daughter to the nurse after the fight. Russ also didn’t know to take her daughter to the doctor right away because she said she wasn’t fully informed of the extent of the incident. Once she found out the next day, she took her daughter to get checked out and she did not have any lasting physical injuries.

The Special Education department at Camp Curtin Academy sent Russ an email offering to move her daughter to Marshall Math Science Academy. But Russ said she doesn’t feel her daughter should have to be uprooted when she wasn’t at fault, and noted the math academy doesn’t have a specific program for autistic students.

Harrisburg School District Superintendent, Eric Truman said in one of his recent addresses to parents that the district is trying to improve student behavior by emphasizing positive school-wide behavior support programs in a partnership with Effective School Solutions and PA Counseling.

The district will strictly adhere to the Student Code of Conduct, Turman said.

“That means we’re going to hold students accountable for their actions by holding reinforcing consequences which may include suspension, being reassigned, expulsion from our schools.”

The district also started advertising for a new security position in recent weeks called a school police officer, or SPO. Turman said in a statement to PennLive:

“The Director/School Police Officer (SPO) will support and conduct training with staff and support a positive school climate. The SPO will play a part in implanting the recent updating of districtwide ‘All Hazard Planning’ processes and procedures. The SPO will function in the following capacity:

· Assist with the identification of physical changes that can be made to reduce crime in and around the school.

· Provide crime prevention and safety education to students.

· Increase gang awareness in and around the school community.

· Training in conflict resolution and crime awareness.

· Support community justice initiatives for students.”

Kia Hansard, co-founder of a community group supporting students known as CATCH, addressed recent incidents of violence in the schools with a post on Facebook. Her post was in response to a video circulating of a fight inside a classroom at Rowland Academy that was widely shared on social media.

“There have also been people asking what is the district doing to address the violence in our schools. First let me say while the violence may be more often this year, the fact is that historically we’ve had this issue for as long as I can remember. We had a previous administration that turned a blind eye to it for YEARS!”

She noted the district has taken steps to address the problems and parents should too.

“The violence that spills into our schools can not and should not be completely laid at the feet of the administration,” Hansard wrote, “because those same behaviors most likely are being displayed at home. Parents need to recognize the signs and get their children the help they need.”

After Russ posted on Facebook about the incident with her daughter, she got a flood of comments from other parents sharing their stories of similar situations and concerns about bullying.

Russ said she is seeking help on what to do for her daughter’s education, as communication from the school district has stopped.

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