Marblehead Schools, Teachers Face Lawsuit Over Student Restraint

MARBLEHEAD, MA — The town of Marblehead, the school district and multiple Glover School teachers are facing a lawsuit over what the Lawyers for Civil Rights called the "unlawful physical restraint" of a 9-year-old boy on multiple occasions this past fall.

The lawyer advocacy group said the lawsuit was filed in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of the family of the Black third-grader, who was a member of the METCO program and suffers from asthma that was triggered by the restraints.

The lawsuit charged that "while crying and begging for help" the student was "pushed and dragged by school staff down the hallway." The suit also said the student was isolated, denied his asthma medication and needed to be rushed to the hospital following an asthma attack during one of the restraint incidents.

Marblehead Schools engaged with a third-party investigation into the allegations this winter that determined the Nov. 20 incident included "neglect of the student by certain educators who implemented the restraints."

Interim Superintendent Theresa McGuinness placed four educators on paid administrative leave pending the investigation into the incident that spurred an overhaul of the district's student services leadership and repeated calls from the Marblehead Education Association to reinstate the suspended educators.

"The CIC report and the DCF findings confirm what the video of the restraints showed," McGuinness said in a statement she sent to the School Committee accompanying the report when it was released in March, "which is that certain educators implemented restraints that were not authorized by law or district policy when they restrained a student."

When the report was discussed at a School Committee meeting the day after its release, dozens of teachers pledged to stand with their colleagues who they said were being "unjustly disciplined for the failed safety policies and protocols of the Marblehead Public Schools."

Marblehead Education Association leadership said on the day of that meeting that it was the administration's failed practices around student safety protocols that were at fault for the conditions that led to the improper restraint and that the MEA would continue to fight for educators and for safe working and learning environments for all staff and students.

Lawyers for the family said in a statement this week that the district's actions to this point have not gone far enough.

"There has been no accountability for the significant harm and trauma that this child continues to experience," said Erika Richmond Walton, an attorney with Lawyers for Civil Rights, in a news release. "This lawsuit was filed to send one clear message to Marblehead and other districts in the Commonwealth: unlawful physical restraints performed on children of color will not go unaddressed.

"It's time for systemic change."

The lawyers said the mother of the boy said he has been removed from the school but is having a hard time adjusting to his new one and is still showing signs of trauma.

"We hope that with this lawsuit, this family can begin the long process towards healing. Policies against the restraint of schoolchildren must be vigorously enforced," said Sophia Hall, Deputy Litigation Director with Lawyers for Civil Rights.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)