A state administrative law judge has ruled that a student with cerebral palsy who investigators say was abused by his Hopewell Middle School teacher was denied a "free and appropriate public education" by Fulton County Schools.
Judge Kimberly Schroer said Alex Williams, now 19, is entitled to a private education at the district's expense for the next five years. That education will include training, therapy and a plan with goals so he can learn to become more independent.
Schroer said that Fulton Schools "violated" the student's educational rights, and Williams' parents "do not want him to be placed in any other traditional school setting that might remind him of the past abuse."
The ruling also compels the district to reimburse Doug and Lisa Williams for private services they used to help their son after he left school.
"This is awesome," Lisa Williams said late Wednesday. “I had no sense of how she was going to rule. Everything that we have dealt with, I didn’t know if anybody was ever going to do the right thing."
Fulton Schools officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The family and their lawyer have said Alex Williams was hit, kicked and humiliated by Hopewell Middle special education teacher Melanie Pickens. Witnesses at the school say Pickens also punished students, including Williams, by restraining them in a chair and leaving them in the dark. The principal at the time, Frances Boyd, now retired, failed to investigate the reports of abuse.
Chris Vance, attorney for the Williamses, said the family will seek $10 million in a federal lawsuit.
"The plaintiffs are going to sue the Fulton County School System and every administrator responsible for placing Alex in that setting where he was abused not just once or twice, but for 180 days and sometimes several times a day,” Vance said.
Investigators hired by Fulton County Schools and from the state's Professional Standards Commission, the agency charged with overseeing the conduct of certified teachers, have said there was abuse.
The commission revoked Pickens' teaching credentials in 2008 for ethics violations.
Williams has regressed in his development since the incidents. He remains at home and takes medication for post-traumatic stress disorder. He also is under medication for seizures.
Under federal law, school districts must educate students with disabilities, provide the support they need to learn, and work with their parents to make sure their individualized learning plan is being followed.
A criminal investigation into the abuse allegations is also pending.
A district official in November said the system takes the matter seriously and has changed policy in the hopes of preventing incidents like this.
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