Justice signs bills dealing with abuse of special needs children
During an earlier bill signing this week, Gov. Jim Justice receives a hug from a child with Down Syndrome. Justice signed two bills Friday to help protect special needs students in classrooms. (Photo Provided)
CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice signed two bills Friday that will provide more transparency in special needs classrooms and increase penalties for those in positions of authority who abuse children with disabilities and special needs. Justice signed Senate Bill 261, requiring video cameras in certain special education classrooms; and House Bill 4600, making it a felony for a “person in a position of trust” to assault, batter, or verbally abuse a child, or neglect to report abuse they witness. Justice announced the bill signings Friday morning when he gave his twice-weekly state briefing at the State Capitol Building. “Today we signed a couple of bills … all designed around one thing: special needs kids who were being abused,” Justice said. “It is just so bizarre, it’s unbelievable. There’s been horrific acts in regards to our special needs kids. These are our gifts; these are sent from God to us. Absolutely, they need our protection. SB 261 requires county boards of education to provide video cameras to schools that have specific classrooms dedicated for special needs education. Beginning April 1, school principals are required to keep all recordings for at least 365 days from the date the video was recorded. The bill is an expansion of the 2019 law. Videos are confidential, though a principal, county school administrator, or designees are required to view at least 15 minutes at least every 90 days. Video recording can be requested by a public school employee under investigation, parents or legal guardians involved in an incident investigation, staff, law enforcement officer, employee of the Department of Health and Human Resources, or attorneys and judges. “They’re going to be assessable at all times and make to where we absolutely do not have another horrific act happen to one of our gifts from God,” Justice said. HB 4600 makes it a felony for any person in a position of trust – someone with supervisory authority — over a disabled child to unlawfully and intentionally cause physical harm or violent injury to a child. Anyone convicted of this crime could receive a minimum $1,000 fine and be imprisoned for between one and five years. It also creates a penalty for someone in a position of trust who witnesses abuse and does not report it. “If anybody abuses or batters or knows of something that has happened and they did not report it, now it’s a felony,” Justice said. “We really stiffened it up and made it really tougher. Hopefully that will get the word across that we just can’t have that ever happen.” Both bills are in response to several incidents over the last few years where special needs students were abused by school staff. A lawsuit and criminal case in Kanawha County involving teachers and student aids is pending according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Another incident in Berkeley County involved allegations of verbal abuse of students. “We all know that special ed (teachers) and aids for the most part are one-thousand percent the greatest of the great,” Justice said. “But we cannot afford one mistake. We cannot afford that. That is all there is to it.” Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.comLocal News
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