Grandmother sues CCSD after private photos taken, circulated with autistic grandson

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A grandmother is suing the Clark County School District after private photos of her middle school-aged grandson were taken and shared.

Bobby Steele says this happened after the district neglected its duty to accompany her autistic son to the bathroom, which she says was clearly stated in his Individualized Education Plan, or “IEP.”

A special education advocate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his ongoing work in the Las Vegas Valley, describes an IEP as an agreed-upon plan between the school, teachers and parents that is built to make a child “both to succeed. be.”

She says the number of incidents similar to what happened to Steele’s grandson is increasing in Nevada and across the US.

Steele describes her grandson as sweet and passionate.

“He likes to swim, he just got a new bike from AMBUCS,” she says. “He loves cycling now, he took to us and we had to really hunt him down on the bike.”

We won’t show his name or face to protect the privacy he left after Steele’s lawsuit alleges CCSD “breached its duties to monitor and protect him” by allowing him to enter a restroom without surveillance, where he is”. bullied’, ‘humiliated’ and ‘photographed’ by other students.

“It really made me wonder, how much is just going on that hasn’t been exposed?” Steele says.

Steele says her grandson’s school knew he often pulled his pants down to his ankles when he used the urinal. Because of this, she says her IEP made it clear that she needed supervision in the toilet. But the lawsuit alleges it was unsupervised when students took naked photos of him while he was using the restroom and sent them to other students at the school.

“They put it in a group chat, made a joke, they all laughed and ran,” she says. “People think that children with autism and special needs don’t have feelings and don’t know what’s going on. They may not be able to express themselves vocally, but they know when they’re being laughed at.”

According to the lawsuit, the students weren’t the only ones who sent the photos. A staff member allegedly “transported” them to her personal phone and then emailed them to a CCSD police officer.

Steele says she has yet to see the photos herself.

“That’s the thing that really bothers me, I don’t know what was done with the pictures,” says Steele. “Was he conscious? Was he alert? How did he feel? What was his condition at the time this happened?

The attorney, who spent 30 years as a special education teacher and administrator, says it’s a growing problem in the district, in part because of a shortage of special education teachers.

“I think this year, we as community advocates predicted an increase, and that was due to the number of vacancies and the number of subordinates and long-term people they hired to fill them,” she says.

But, she says, a problem never has a single source.

“There’s funding, there’s the availability of special education teachers, there’s a general reduction in the amount of people going into education, period.”

She says parents can ask nonprofits or special education advocates in the community for help with their child’s IEP. If a problem arises with the IEP, she suggests that parents should raise their concerns with the school immediately.

“You’re going to be that child’s advocate for a long time until we start teaching them how to advocate for themselves,” she says.

Steele’s son did not return to school last year after the incident in March. This year, he started at a specialist autism school and is in therapy to deal with what happened.

A CCSD spokesperson says they cannot comment on any pending litigation.

When FOX5 reached out about how the IEP process generally works, it sent several policies it follows and a statement that said “the district provides the services described in a student’s IEP.”

You can find their full statement and link to each policy below:

The District has various policies and regulations that outline the expectations educators have for developing instructional plans consistent with a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). For example, Policy 6164, Regulation 6122.1and Regulation 5121.1 are documents that outline expectations related to Special Education and IEPs. The district provides the services described in a student’s IEP.