A civil rights lawsuit has been filed against the town, Marblehead Public Schools and several Glover School teachers and staff on behalf of a 9-year-old Black student who was allegedly improperly restrained.
“From September to December 2023, MPS employees at Glover brutally and impermissibly restrained (the student) on numerous occasions,” the complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court alleges.
It continues, “MPS employees at Glover also isolated (the student) in empty rooms, leaving him alone, upset and afraid. These employees’ actions terrified the student and caused him to suffer from severe asthma attacks and vomiting.”
According to the complaint, on Dec. 6, the student needed to be transported to the hospital via ambulance because his asthma attack could not be controlled.
The suit names 11 Glover teachers and staff.
“These are the people who have physically touched my client — teachers and other staff members,” said Lawyers for Civil Rights attorney Erika Richmond Walton, who is representing the student and his mother. Richmond Walton told the Current the teachers are accused of assault and battery and violating the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act.
The town and district are accused of negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligent supervision, according to Walton. The suit requests the defendants face a jury trial.
The student, who is part of the METCO program, started at Glover last September and remained there until March. In addition to suffering from asthma, he is small for his age at just over 4 feet tall, and weighs 50 pounds, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that the boy is now afraid of school and his teachers say he is showing signs of trauma. Both he and his mother are in therapy as a result of the experiences in Marblehead, according to the complaint.
Restraint investigation
A student restraint on Nov. 20 resulted in the departure of then-MPS student services director Paula Donnelly and assistant director Emily Dean. (The district paid Donnelly and Dean nearly $120,000 in a separation agreement.)
The student services chair at Glover, Ann Haskell, was fired and has filed suit against the district. Three other Glover educators have been on leave since late last year because of the restraint.
An outside review by Comprehensive Investigations and Consulting determined that Glover staff did violate restraint policies. Interim superintendent Theresa McGuinness instituted retraining and other changes based on recommendations in CIC’s 54-page report.
The CIC report described the Nov. 20 restraint when staff used a blue mat to contain the student and prevent him from hurting himself or anyone else or smashing into a glass case.
Staff also used what’s called a “reverse transport,” where two people place their hands under the student’s arms and walk him backwards.
The boy was taken into a “break space,” and the door was closed, according to the report.
“Staff noticed that (the student) was coughing, opened the door and offered him water. He continued to cough after drinking some water and threw up,” according to the CIC report.
The report continues that an employee went to the nurse’s office to get the student something, which he was able to use “independently.”
‘Unlawful and dangerous’
According to the civil rights suit, “Marblehead staff isolated and locked (the student) in empty rooms on multiple occasions leaving him alone, upset and terrified. In one incident, (the student) was violently shoved into an isolation space causing him to hit his head against the wall.”
The suit also accuses staff of denying the “student his medication while in isolation, which caused him to cough so hard that he eventually threw up” and restraining the student to the point of “needing to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance for emergency treatment following an asthma attack that could not be controlled.”
“Marblehead’s actions are unlawful and dangerous,” LCR said in a press release, which noted that the student’s mistreatment was originally reported anonymously to the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families by another Marblehead school employee who witnessed the abuse.
After the Nov. 4 incident, the student continued to be restrained until his mother removed him from the district in March, the complaint claims.
“There has been no accountability for the significant harm and trauma that this child continues to experience,” said Richmond Walton. “This lawsuit was filed to send one clear message to Marblehead and other districts in the Commonwealth: Unlawful physical restraints performed on children of color will not go unaddressed. It’s time for systemic change.”
Earlier this year, LCR successfully settled a similar matter against the Walpole Public Schools, where a 9-year-old Black boy was handcuffed by police and forcibly removed from the classroom.
Reached for comment, School Committee Chair Sarah Fox and McGuinness sent the same statement: “The School District will review this pending litigation with counsel, and counsel will advise on the appropriate response. As always, we place the safety and wellbeing of our students and our staff members above all else.”
The Marblehead Education Association, which represents the three Glover educators still on leave, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Editor Leigh Blander is an experienced TV, radio and print journalist.