Wednesday, September 12, 2012
As the Lexington Public Schools deal with shocking allegations of mistreatment of a special needs student six years ago, parents and School Committee members want an investigation into the incident and records from the time.
“Welcome to the 21st Century Classroom,” read yellow letters across a blue screen behind the stage at Cary Hall as the room slowly filled with residents and media. The cheery message was a stark contrast to the reason the masses assembled here on a chilly September night. Most of them weren't there for the presentation on an iPad pilot program at Lexington High, or to hear the latest about the three elementary school building projects. The electricity in the air had sparked a few days earlier, with the publication over the weekend in the New York Times of an opinion piece in which a former Lexington resident makes shocking allegations of the mistreatment of his daughter when she was a student in the Lexington Public Schools. According to…
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Cary Memorial Building
1605 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
/articles/residents-school-committee-members-call-for-independent-review-of-isolation-room-complaints
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/locations/7790011
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
At the start School Committee's meeting at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Cary Hall, Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash is expected to address allegations that a kindergartner with special needs was locked in a closet six years ago.
A former Lexington resident's allegations that his daughter was locked in a basement closet with padded walls six years ago as a kindergartner in the Lexington Public Schools have taken the town by storm over the past few days. Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash issued a statement Monday night in response to the allegations, first published by the New York Times over the weekend. And the schools chief is expected to have more to say at the start of the School Committee's meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Cary Hall. School Committee Chairwoman Margaret Coppe first said Ash would address the allegations in an email last night to Patch. She reiterated the statement this afternoon on Yahoo discussion group popular with residents. Bill Lichtenstein …
42.446369
-71.22389
Cary Memorial Building
1605 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
/articles/lps-officials-to-further-address-seculsion-room-allegations-tonight
232593
/locations/7811158
The following statement was provided by Bill Lichtenstein, the former Lexington resident who claims his then-5-year-old daughter was mistreated while a kindergartener in the Lexington Public Schools.
In Travis Andersen's article in today's Boston Globe (9/11/2012), Lexington school superintendent Dr. Paul Ash supposedly "rebuked" the New York Sunday Times story I wrote on the use of restraints and seclusion in schools and the case of my daughter Rose. But he failed to dispute any of the facts. His claim: no one did anything wrong. Read the statement Ash released last night. Below are the documents from the administrative action in [Lichtenstein's daughter's] case that resulted in the settlement. They were handled by our attorney, and the charges made in them were based on Lexington Public School's records, files and depositions with school staff. I defy anyone to read them, particularly the 20-page "Parents Proposed Findings of Fact …
A former Lexington resident opens up about the OpEd he penned for the New York Times alleging his daughter, then a 5-year-old special needs student, was locked in a closet by educators within the Lexington Public Schools.
It wasn’t the settlement or his daughter's recovery that motivated journalist and former Lexington resident Bill Lichtenstein to write an OpEd for the New York Times about the alleged mistreatment of his daughter, then a kindergartener, within the Lexington Public Schools six years ago. It was Jerry Sandusky. Or, rather, it was the seismic fallout from the child abuse scandal that rocked Penn State, tarnished the reputation of legendary football coach Joe Paterno and forced the responsibility of adults to protect children into the public consciousness. In a piece published over the weekend by the New York Times, Lichtenstein writes about “seclusion rooms” as a cruel punishment for special needs students, and the shock of finding his …
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Fiske Elementary School
55 Adams St, Lexington, MA
/articles/lichtenstein-explains-times-oped-allegations-against-lps
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Monday, September 10, 2012
School officials are “very concerned” over allegations of mistreatment of a kindergartener with speech and language delays.
A opinion piece published this weekend by the New York Times has gone viral here in Lexington and has residents and school officials concerned over allegations of mistreatment a 5-year-old student in the Lexington Public Schools. The piece, penned by Bill Lichtenstein, paints a disturbing portrait of a kindergartener with speech and language delays being shut away in a “seclusion room.” According to Lichtenstein, the incidents involving his daughter, Rose, at the Lexington Public Schools occurred six years ago and the action the family brought against the LPS was settled when the district agreed to pay for Rose’s treatment. However, Lichtenstein’s allegations—particularly the part when he describes arriving at the unnamed school with his …
Citizen
9:39 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
What is the attraction of Lexington - rumor, fact or fiction. If Lexington no longer wants a reputation that attracts more special education kids let the truth come out. Shirley Jackson's inspiration for "The Lottery" was a quaint beautiful hamlet in Vermont. Don't deny. Embrace the culture of abuse as dues for the privilege to live in Lexington. The LPS rating dropped from AAA to AA. Maybe they … more ›