wednesday,july 3, 2013 - County Times - Southern Maryland Online

Spotlight OnThe County TimesWednesday, July 3, 2013 12LocalPhysicianAppointedTo CSMBoardBy Guy LeonardStaff WriterGov. MartinO’Malley hasappointed localsurgeon Dr. JohnRoache to theCollege of SouthernMaryland’sboard of trustees.R o a c h e ,who also headsthe St. Mary’sAmbulance andRescue Association,has alsoDr. John Roachehad a long track record of community volunteerismin fire and rescue companies.He also has served for 40 years at theSt. Mary’s Hospital, now MedStar, and hasserved as chief of staff and chief of surgery aswell as in numerous other departments.“I feel very strongly about the College ofSouthern Maryland,” Roache said Monday.“I think it’s a strong asset to our community.”He called it a “stepping stone” to greatereducation and career attainment and a placewhere students can get an “education at a reasonableprice.”Roache said his appointment startedJuly 1.Roache is a Mechanicsville native witha M.D. from Georgetown University. He isalso a U.S. Navy veteran who served in thereserve medical corp.He also currently serves as the presidentof the St. Mary’s County Historical Society.Roache’s term will be up July 1, 2018.guyleonard@countytimes.netParents, School System StruggleOver Autistic Child’s FutureBy Guy LeonardStaff WriterA Dameron couple are facing possible fines and jail time forthe failure of their son to attend school regularly this year but theysay their son, who is autistic, is afraid to go to school because he isafraid of his teachers and what may happen to him in the learningenvironment.Rita and Gregory Weaver face a hearing Oct. 7 before the InteragencyCommittee on School Attendance (ICSA) to determine whatpenalties, if any, they face according to a June 25 letter sent to themby Charles Ridgell, III, director of the county public schools’ Departmentof Student Services.Their son has only been to school 29 days this year, Rita said.Both of the Weavers attended a June 24 ICSA meeting in whichthey laid out the case for why their son is fearful of going to school.Rita told The County Times that her son’s time in school hasbeen difficult from the start of his student career in Piney Point andBanneker elementary schools all the way up to his time in middleschool now.The school system has offered to send their son to The HarbourSchool in Annapolis but the Weavers have rejected that as being toofar out of the way for their son to go.They have also rejected the home hospital teacher the schoolsystem wanted to send to their home.“He has nowhere to go,” Rita said. “The mission of the schoolsystem is to make kids ready to access either college or a career.“He’s not going to be ready for anything other than a disabilitycheck.”Rita pointed to several incidents in her son’s elementary schooltime where he began to act out in class but, she claimed, was restrainedimproperly.These types of incidents instilled a fear of school in her son shesaid.A copy of a physical restraint report for her son back in 2008when he was in second grade showed he started to beat on a door andthen on teachers when they tried to intervene.Three teachers restrained him, the report stated, but Rita haddoubts that they followed the proper procedures.State regulations require that administrators document howlong the restraining process lasted; the report reads “it lasted until…was calm and needed to rest.”State regulations allow only 30 minutes of restraint at a time,Weaver claimed.Another incident that happened just days later five years ago hadteachers restrain Rita’s son for “about an hour,” the school systemreport showed, before Rita’s son stopped resisting.Her son’s individualized education plans (IEPs) note thatthroughout his student career he complained of being overwhelmedby changes in either classroom structure even who was driving hisschool bus.Rita said her son has been diagnosed with chronic anxiety alongwith autism, which makes him so fearful he refuses to go to school.The Weavers said they would not force their son to go to schoolbecause they feared it would make his behavioral condition worse.“He needs more time [to complete tasks]… he can’t handle aload of change,” Rita said.But records from the school system show that her son can performwell.The Weavers say their son is a good student when in the properenvironment.A June 24 report from the Department of Student Servicesshows he scored proficient or advanced in all areas of the MSA testwhen taken from the third grade through the sixth grade.His teacher at Green Holly Elementary School wrote a lettersupporting the Weaver’s son as a diligent student when he attended aspecial course of instruction there.“[The student] was a very intelligent, creative athletic and talentedstudent who seemed to enjoy school,” Luanne Cochran wrote in aJune 18 missive. “As a matter of fact, he became upset when he hadto miss school due to doctors’ appointments or counseling sessions.“Academically, [he] did very well and was a very inquisitivestudent.”The Weavers say the school system has not always adheredto their son’s education plans now that he is in middle school, compoundinghis learning problems.A letter from Melissa Charbonnet, executive director of the Departmentof Special Education and Student Services, dated June 4,puts much of the responsibility for the Weaver’s son’s situation on hisparents’ choices.Charbonnet stated the school system agreed to home/hospitalteaching for their son despite their belief classroom learning wouldbe better; all parties agreed that a placement at The Harbour Schoolwould also be appropriate, according to the letter.Charbonnet said the Weavers refused to let their son take a bustrip to Annapolis with a pupil personnel worker (PPW) to visit TheHarbour School as required.When the home teacher for their son said they would no longerbe available, the school system provided another which the Weaversrejected “based solely” on the fact he was affiliated with a religiousorganization as a reverend.“Your failure to discuss scheduling for HHT [home hospitalteaching] services, your failure to allow HHT, and your failure tomake [your son] available for placement interviews at The HarbourSchool has resulted in [him] being truant,” Charbonnet wrote.“Truancy is a violation of Maryland’s compulsory school attendancelaws.”The school system declined to comment due to student confidentialityconcerns.guyleonard@countytimes.netWeekly AuctionsFridays at 6 p.m.Now takiNg coNsigNmeNtsfor future guN auctioN!Chesapeake Auction HouseSt. Leonard, MD 20685 • 410-586-1161 • chesapeakeauctionhouse.comThe Cove/D.F.Z.: a safe, fun & sober place to be for youth ages 12-17with concerns related to drugs or alcohol. 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