‘Where’s the criminal charges?’ Superintendent wants teacher charged for dragging student.

Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk said Monday that criminal charges should be filed against a teacher shown dragging a student with autism in a video that was aired on several national television networks.

To emphasize his point, Caulk discussed at a special-called school board meeting recent media reports that said a Leitchfield man would be criminally charged for dragging a dog behind a vehicle. He said criminal charges had not yet been filed against the teacher shown in the video.

“We have bad actors who drag students. Where’s the criminal charges?” Caulk said.

Caulk said as a parent of a special needs child and a former special education teacher, he is “passionate” about the issue.

The child’s mother, Jo Grayson, told the Herald-Leader in a message Monday night that her lawyer was notifying the Fayette County Attorney’s office that she wanted to file criminal charges. She has said her son sustained bruises and scrapes when a teacher and a school nurse dragged him in the hallways of Tates Creek Middle School in September when he refused to leave the school gym.

Caulk said the incident, which occurred Sept. 14, was not a situation that required physical restraint. The teacher is no longer employed by the district

Caulk said the student was, at most, being non-compliant, but that the video showed “that student was not posing a danger to himself or others.”

Even if the student had posed a danger, “the techniques she used or lack thereof,” did not require the use of a restraint, Caulk said.

District officials have not identified the teacher. Caulk said he could not say under what circumstances the teacher left the school district.

Fayette County Attorney Larry Roberts could not immediately be reached for comment Monday night.

Caulk said he was expressing an opinion about all incidents in which teachers have dragged students at schools in Kentucky — advocates have reported others and there was a previous situation in Fayette County. He said the General Assembly should change the tribunal process in which Kentucky teachers are fired.

In Kentucky’s tribunal process, Caulk said, no one speaks for children who are victimized.

“That process isn’t about demanding justice for that child. To me it’s about protecting bad actors. We need a process that demands justice for our children,” Caulk said.

Caulk said while due process is needed for teachers, “justice delayed is justice denied.”

He said the mother of the child in the Tates Creek Middle incident was correct in asking that criminal charges be filed and that while there should be an investigation and due process, there should be charges filed and revocation of certification.

“I believe there should be criminal charges, their certification should be revoked, there should be a process that is about demanding justice for our children, not about protecting these bad actors,” not just in the Tates Creek incident, but across Kentucky.

He said local boards should be able to terminate teachers in such circumstances and “if there is a review of that decision, it should be through arbitration.”

Grayson, the child’s mother, said Monday that a new time and date has been set for a rally in the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort — from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Nov. 5. The rally will lobby for surveillance cameras in all classrooms and more training for teachers about restraint and seclusion.

Caulk said he did not have an opinion on cameras, although he had taught with cameras as a teacher in the classroom.

On more training, he said, “In Fayette County our teachers are well-trained.”

He said the recent incident was not a training issue.

“The person did not use the training in that particular incident, “ Caulk said. The training needed “was being human and being kind, “ he said.

This story was originally published October 22, 2018 at 7:28 PM.