Court documents say what happened

Three Smyrna Elementary School employees are facing charges and the Smyrna School District is fighting at least one civil lawsuit following repeated abuse of students with special needs.

A police investigation revealed employees were throwing objects at students, yelling at them and calling them names, police said. According to court documents, students were isolated in a dark bathroom, slapped in the face and sprayed with water bottles; The student or students known to have digestive disorders were fed hot Taki chips and hot sauce.

The civil complaint stated that staff “particularly singled out vulnerable children for abuse.” According to court documents, police initially found that nine children, each age 6 and under and significantly disabled, had been abused, but the investigation later found three more victims.

The victims were unable to self-report the abuse because they all “have autism or Down syndrome and have significant intellectual or developmental disabilities,” court documents said. “They are non-verbal and have little to no ability to communicate.”

The complaint alleged in the civil lawsuit that parents voiced concerns to school administrators but “failed to take appropriate and timely action to prevent or stop the abuse.”

accusations

The abuse first came to light on Feb. 16, when an employee reported “possible professional misconduct,” the Smyrna School District said in a statement. The Smyrna Police Department and the Delaware Department of Justice subsequently launched an eight-month investigation.

Police announced the arrests of Marissa Johnson, 26, and Makayla Lomax, 31, of Smyrna, and Morgan Donahue, 21, of Clayton, on Nov. 6.

Johnson was charged with 10 counts of endangering the welfare of a child; Lomax was charged with nine counts of endangering the welfare of a child, offensive touching and third-degree child abuse; and Donahue is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. All three were released on unsecured bail.

The district has not disclosed their positions at the school, but public salary information shows all three are listed as paraeducators and substitutes, with Johnson listed as an elementary school specialist. The civil lawsuit describes Johnson as a teacher.

The day of the arrests, the school district released a statement saying the “involved” employees had not appeared before students since the district was “notified of the alleged misconduct” and that “most of the individuals allegedly involved are no longer involved.” “We work for the region.”

The district will respect the privacy rights of remaining relevant employees “regarding separation of jobs” and will report to the Department of Education’s Division of Licensing and Certification, the statement said.

Exploitation

Between September 1, 2023, and February 16, 2024, Johnson and Lomax were seen throwing objects such as “small bean bags, bean bag chairs, small matchbox-style toy cars, wiggly worms on tight string, lunch boxes, and balls.” In addition to the food, the students also had it, court documents said. According to court documents, these students are frequently struck by objects.

They corrected students by spraying them with water bottles, pulled their hair, aggressively pulled their arms, squeezed their hands to cause pain, and used “aggressive physical restraint practices that were inconsistent with their training and acceptable practices,” court documents said.

They yelled at students, called them names, and as a form of discipline “forced the victims into the classroom bathroom and often turned off the lights, closed the door, and kept it closed from the outside,” according to court documents.

In one particular incident, a student screamed for help, saying, “Mom, help, help, out, out,” court documents said.

Abuse against a student or students with digestive disorders is detailed in court documents.

According to court documents, the incident in which Johnson fed the student named Takis occurred around September 1, 2023. According to court documents, Takis made the student cry and Johnson “found humor” in the incident.

According to court documents, Donahue fed a spoonful of hot sauce to a student during the fall of the 2022-2023 school year, causing the student to cry and Donahue to laugh. He also admitted to giving Takis to a student but said they were provided by a parent, according to court documents. The student’s mother denied sending anything spicy to school because of her child’s digestive disorder, according to court documents.

“There is probable cause to show that Donahue’s feeding of hot sauce and Taki chips to a particular student with digestive disorders as a form of humor constituted, at the very least, intentional and purposeful acts that constituted emotional abuse of a child,” the court said. the documents said.

A paraprofessional who was not charged is also named in court documents. According to court documents, an eyewitness told police he saw the paraprofessional put a student in the bathroom and keep the door closed on Feb. 16, 2024. The same professional is mentioned in the civil case.

civil lawsuit

A “severely disabled” girl, now 8, is the focus of a civil lawsuit filed against the Smyrna School District by her unnamed parents, the complaint said. He was diagnosed with “intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder,” was nonverbal, and was not fully toilet trained, according to the complaint.

The complaint stated that the student was abused during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years. According to the complaint, Johnson was the student’s teacher the first year, while the student was in the next class the following year. Johnson’s “aides” frequently assisted in both classes, the complaint said.

During those two years, the student “began to exhibit severe school anxiety and avoidance of school, crying on the way to school, and resisting entering the building and hallway where his classroom was located,” the complaint said.

The student has many food-related symptoms. His Individualized Education Plan required him to be closely supervised while eating “because he overstuffed his mouth with food and attempted to snatch his peers’ food,” the complaint said. According to the complaint, staff “have to cut his food into smaller pieces and monitor him while he eats because he often vomits up his food.”

Vomiting attacks can last up to 90 minutes if a strict diet is not followed, which is why staff feeding Takis was “particularly cruel and degrading,” the complaint said.

The student also “watched helplessly as (staff) engaged in similar abuse of his weaker classmates (children with significant, multiple disabilities) while also physically assaulting them by hitting and slapping them,” the complaint said.

The family’s lawyer, Dennis McAndrews, said that before February, parents had raised concerns about alarming changes in the children’s behavior and how they were being treated. These concerns were reported to Principal Cynthia McNatt, Assistant Principal Leslie Gregory, Superintendent Susan Brown and Student Services Supervisor Jennifer Morris, according to the complaint.

McAndrews said an investigation should be launched. He said parents should continue sending their children to school under truancy laws until concrete evidence of abuse emerges.

The lawsuit asserts nine claims, including intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence and discrimination.

“We will seek to hold accountable those who harm these children in any way,” McAndrews said.

He said McAndrews was part of the firm McAndrews, Mehalick, Connolly, Hulse and Ryan, which represented six affected families. In addition to the civil lawsuit, the firm is also preparing another civil lawsuit on behalf of four families, he said.

Another family is represented by lawyer Christofer Johnson, who says he is also preparing a lawsuit.

Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught.

accusations

Exploitation

civil lawsuit

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