Kings Local Schools responded Tuesday night to an action filed with the Ohio Supreme Court seeking information about the alleged abuse of special needs students.

The action, filed by former school board candidate Kim Grant, claims a former Columbia Elementary teacher abused students then exited the district on good terms, with the district seeking to “brush under the rug” any impropriety on the part of the teacher.

The action demands that Kings schools turn over its records on the case, including transcripts of multiple depositions.

Superintendent Valerie Browning told the school board that a school investigation revealed multiple issues with the teacher’s handling of students, but an investigation by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office revealed no child abuse, she said.

Browning said school board attorneys cited attorney-client privilege as the reason for not releasing the depositions, and noted that they are collected by legal counsel “when there is a sensitive matter to investigate.” In addition, providing the depositions would violate the privacy of students, she said.

The action alleges the teacher abused children via “seclusion, restraint, physical abuse (such as pushing and shoving) verbal abuse and other emotional abuse,” according to the action.

In an October 2011 letter obtained by Today’s Pulse, a then-teacher’s aide brought allegations of inappropriate conduct to Principal Shelley Detmer-Bogaert.

“She even went so far as to restrain (a student) in her little wooden chair with the chair straps and tape and would then slide her in the bathroom, and shut the door with (the student) screaming at the top of her lungs, ‘I have to go to the bathroom,’ ” the teacher’s aide wrote.

The teacher’s aide also alleged that another aide returned to the room numerous time to students sitting in their own urine with a puddle under their desk.

Browning said the reports from the teacher and from the other adult in the classroom were not consistent with the allegations given by the aide.

Detmer-Bogaert and Assistant Principal Lori Stovall worked with the teacher to develop a “support and improvement plan” and the administration met with the teacher bi-weekly to debrief on instructional planning, communication with support staff, and classroom needs, Browning said.

The aide who made the initial allegations was told to report any concerns she had to Detmer-Bogaert.

Then, as classes resumed in January 2012, the classroom aide abruptly resigned, saying she could no longer work with the teacher.

District records show Browning put the teacher on administrative leave on Jan. 6, 2012, and ordered her to stay away from the school and its students while the district conducted a thorough investigation.

The list of complaints against the teacher included an inconsistent approach to discipline, lack of planning, inaccurate records and intentional attempts to get students “all worked up” by startling or instigating them. The teacher also, on occasion, allegedly ate students’ snacks and drinks.

The complaints were verified and corroborated by multiple sources, as there were three adults in the classroom working with the children in almost all situations, Browning said.

When aides were asked about the fact that other adults did not have the same view of the teacher they responded, “she was like two different people,” Browning said.

“She was able to ‘turn it on’ for the principals and others when they came in into the classroom,” Browning said.

At the conclusion of the investigation, the school administration met with the parents of students that were currently in the classroom, Browning said.

The district also made a report to the Office of Professional Conduct to ensure compliance with all applicable Ohio laws in the event there is a mandatory duty to report the teacher’s action.

“Only the Ohio Department of Education has the authority to revoke or suspend a teacher’s license,” Browning said. “As of this date, the teacher is still under investigation.”

In March 2012, the teacher and the district reached an agreement concerning her resignation in the summer of 2012 at the expiration of her employment contract, she said. The teacher was not returned to the classroom while on administrative leave.

“We like anybody else would prefer not to pay employees not to work,” Browning said. “It is completely counter to what most of us hard working citizens believe. However, the reality is that sometimes it is more fiscally responsible to do so. In Ohio, we have rules and laws that protect public workers but that also make it difficult to terminate a teacher with a contract.”

The costs of defending a termination law suit can far exceed the cost of paying for an employee to leave, Browning said.

“If we lose in the termination case, we not only pay our attorney fees we pay the employees as well and many times back pay all while the employee retains their job,” she said. “If we win the termination case, we still pay our own attorney fees. Most termination cases are a lose-lose situation for a school district.”

Grant, a board member for Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes, said she was surprised the school board did not release the transcripts and emphasized it should have ignored the cost of litigation in this instance.

“In this situation, there was enough hard evidence and if our administrators would have followed through with observations and with these depositions they are not giving us, I would not think that there would be any way that this teacher would not have been released,” she said, after calling for Browning’s resignation during the meeting.

The teacher, who is no longer teaching, worked briefly in a part-time clerical position at a local parish but had no interactions with students at the parish school, according to the parish’s pastor. As of this week, she no longer works for the parish, the pastor told Today’s Pulse.

Browning said Kings has policies and guidelines in place in regards to reporting and investigating abuse or neglect.

“The Kings administration complies with Ohio Law in regards to providing notice to law enforcement and communicates with parents as appropriate when a school employee suspects that a child’s physical or mental health or welfare may be adversely affected by abuse or neglect,” Browning said.

The school district’s policy for reporting child abuse can be found in student handbooks and online at KingsLocal.net under the board of education page.

All Kings employees are mandatory reporters and must undergo child abuse training, Browning said.