My wife wrote a letter that was published on Easter Sunday about our child, who was beaten unconscious at school. Our child was denied his right to medical treatment at the time and denied medical treatment afterward because of the lack of information the school gave us. We were denied our right to know our child needed medical attention and the right to view the video of the assault for almost six months.
As we sit here and wait for the latest doctor’s report to see if any brain damage occurred during the beating, we read that our school superintendent just received the Liberty Bell award from the Allen County Bar Association.
Is this the reason why we have been unable to receive any legal help in our community?
We had even contacted Ohio Legal Rights Service and our child was assigned an advocate. After meeting with the school, the advocate sided with the school saying that the substitute gym teacher’s testimony matched the video, your child was only lightly slapped on the cheek. Her statement was “Your child may have had bumps on his head, he may have sustained a concussion, but it did not happen during this altercation!”
We have posted the video the school gave us to YouTube and The Lima News also has a copy. If you would like to view it, the title is: Concussion in classroom. What do you see? A boy being lightly slapped or knocked unconscious and faculty stands steps away and does nothing?
— William Haggard, Lima
Editor’s note: The Lima News did review the video, the quality of which was too poor to make any conclusions.
