McGuffey district sued over lack of teaching plan

The mother of a child with learning disabilities who claims that her daughter was mocked by three teachers on a mistakenly recorded phone message has sued Washington County’s McGuffey School District in federal court.

Beth Suhon accused the district of discriminating against the student, improperly terminating the girl’s special-needs teaching plan, and retaliating against her and her family when they complained.

The lawsuit, filed Sunday in U.S. District Court, is seeking damages against the district for various violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Civil Rights Act.

The mother, Beth Suhon, who lives in West Alexander, says that her eighth-grade daughter was diagnosed in first grade with Turner’s Syndrome, a chromosomal condition in women that causes developmental problems, along with learning disabilities.

In her complaint, she said the district created a special-needs teaching plan for her in third grade but that it was terminated the following year without the district telling the parents.

Ms. Suhon claims the district was negligent in not conducting the appropriate testing for her daughter, resulting in years of delays in her education.

Ms. Suhon said that when she called the school in February 2015, she left a message for her daughter’s fifth-grade teacher. When he called back, he left a message on her machine but forgot to hang up the phone at the end.

According to the lawsuit, he and two other teachers were then heard on the recording mocking and laughing at the girl and at another learning-disabled student in the district.

The mother removed her daughter and put her in a cyber school until the end of the year, but “reluctantly” returned her to McGuffey for sixth grade.

Attorney Noah Geary said in the complaint that the teachers said “insulting, horrible things” about the students on the recording but that the district did nothing about it.

“The educators mock the students’ mathematics ability, physical appearance, and classroom behavior, punctuating these crass comments with derisive laughter,” according to a report cited in the lawsuit that was written by a special education hearing officer, who presided over the issue earlier this year.

The officer, attorney Michael McElligott, said the comments on the voicemail were “nearly unfathomable, and frankly heartbreaking,” according to the report.

The officer ruled against the district on a discrimination claim based on the recording.

But Mr. McElligott ruled against Ms. Suhon on her other accusations of retaliation and her claim that the district acted with “deliberate indifference” in terminating her daughter’s special-needs plan in 2013.

The lawsuit, however, is proceeding on all of those claims and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Mr. Geary did not return a message Tuesday. The school district is closed for the holidays.