
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993                   TAG: 9312210181
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

2ND FAMILY FILES LAWSUIT IN ALLEGED ABUSE CASE

A second family has filed a federal lawsuit charging that children were abused in a special education class at a Botetourt County elementary school.

The parents of 4-year-old Anne Parrish filed a $1 million lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit filed by Mike and Joy Parrish claims that children were physically and verbally abused by a teacher and teacher's aide in a class at Breckinridge Elementary School in Fincastle.

School officials deny that the children were abused.

The county Department of Social Services ruled that abuse had occurred, but a state hearing officer recently overruled that conclusion.

Joy Parrish said the hearing officer's decision "is typical of the kind of frustration that we've experienced throughout this case."

"The agencies that are supposed to protect our children have failed," Joy Parrish said. "It's up to us to protect them."

Joy Parrish said she and her husband had been considering filing a lawsuit, but the hearing officer's ruling "was pretty much the final straw for me. Because I know what happened to my daughter."

The lawsuit claims that children were slapped in the mouth, pulled by the ear, threatened with a ruler and held down during nap time with a foot on the back.

School Superintendent Clarence McClure, the county School Board, teacher Cindy Higgins and aide Margaret H. Garrison are named as defendants in the suit. McClure has said "the evidence does not support" a finding of child abuse.

by CNB