Special needs teacher abuses kids, now autistic kids are being forced to testify

Kathleen Garrett

Assistants testify about abuse Video

Mother Speaks About Plea Deal Video

Special-needs teacher accused of harsh abuse Video

FORMAL CHARGES: Court Document (PDF file)

REPORT: Garrett Arrest Report (PDF file)

LETTER: Teachers' Union Responds (PDF file)

2004 News article: Special-Needs Teacher Accused Of Harsh Abuse Video

More 2004/2005 News articles (click here)

ARTICLES:

Assistants Testify About Teacher's Alleged Abuse

January 20, 2005

Police have released audiotapes of interviews with Seminole County teaching assistants, who told police about the alleged actions of a special-education teacher who faces criminal charges.

Video

The teaching assistants sounded the alarm about a teacher, who is accused of abusing her students, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.

Former South Seminole Middle School teacher Kathleen Garrett faces criminal charges and resigned from the district shortly after her arrest.

Four teaching assistants were interviewed, and each interview lasted roughly an hour. Police listened to the tapes before deciding to arrest Garrett.

Some of the descriptions are graphic.

"His neck was on the edge of the desk right here, and his lips were turning purple," said teaching assistant Sabrina Mort.

She said when an autistic boy tried to pinch Garrett, she used her body to push him down against a desk.

"His neck was against the edge of the desk and his eyes were swelling and watering. I looked at her and said, 'You need to get up,'" Mort said.

Mort said while she worked with Garrett, she went to school officials at first.

"But when I went to someone about it before, it was my word against hers and nothing was done. So, I stopped saying anything about it," she said.

An independent investigator is looking into whether complaints about the teacher were, in fact, ignored or not pursued.

On the tapes, Mort also said a boy wet his pants and while he was being cleaned up in the bathroom, Garrett hit him in the back of the head.

"Had he not been sitting down he'd been on the floor, but since he was sitting down, his face hit his knees," she said.

The state attorney has charged Garrett with abuse based in large part to the assistants' testimonies.

Another assistant told investigators about one instance when a child vomited because he was distressed.

"She had her hand by the back of his neck and just had his face right against the desk, right where the puke was," said Sabina Nowick.

Another assistant also claimed she left the room and when she returned, one child had cracked front teeth. She said the teeth were perfect before.

Garrett will be in court again in March as her case moves along.

NewsChannel 2 called Garrett's attorney and left messages, but so far, Garrett's not talking and her attorney hasn't returned the calls.

Autistic Students Must Testify In Abuse Case Against Teacher

January 19, 2007

SANFORD, Fla. -- Five severely autistic teenagers must testify against a teacher charged with abusing them, a judge has ruled.

Circuit Judge Clayton Simmons made the ruling at a pretrial hearing Thursday in the case against Kathleen Garrett. Trial is expected to begin next week against the 26-year veteran of Seminole County public schools charged with physically abusing the students, who ranged in age from 12 to 15.

Garrett was arrested in November 2004 on charges that she abused autistic students in her class at South Seminole Middle School in Casselberry, even chipping one boy's teeth by slamming his face into a desk.

Other allegations include beating children, humiliating them, pushing one's face into vomit and disciplining some behind closed bathroom doors, where screaming and sounds of furniture banging around could be heard.

Defense attorney Thomas Egan argued that it is vital for jurors to see the kind of students Garrett supervised.

"One of these kids actually eats his feces," Egan said. "I think the world will see volumes when they see these children."

Assistant State Attorney Donna Goerner said the courtroom setting might traumatize the students and whatever they say cannot be trusted because they are not mentally competent.

The judge said the charges against Garrett are serious and she is entitled to a full defense. If the students wander off or walk out of the courtroom, the judge said, he would not require deputies to retrieve them.

Garrett, 50, rejected a plea deal this week that would have placed her on five years' probation and required her to surrender her teaching certificate.

If convicted, she faces a possible sentence of 75 years in prison.

Mother Of Autistic Student Speaks About Plea Deal

January 11, 2007

Video: Mother Speaks About Plea Deal

SANFORD, Fla. -- A mother of one of the autistic students allegedly abused by a Seminole County teacher hesitated at first to agree with a plea deal that was offered to the woman who she said beat her son.

Kathleen Garrett was arrested in November 2004 and charged with abusing five middle school students. Her trial is set for later this month, but a plea deal could end it before it starts, WESH 2 News reported.

The parents of the children had to approve the deal before it was offered, WESH 2 News reported.

Annie Baez and son, Alex, abused by Garrett

Annie Baez said she wasn't so sure she wanted to play "Let's Make a Deal," but now she agrees that Garrett should never teach again.

The proposed deal, if accepted, would do just that.

"For him, it was devastating," Annie Baez said.

Autistic and blind, Baez said Garrett, her son Alex's teacher, mistreated him.

"He was put in a dark closet every day for three years," Baez said. "He was hit over the head and physically and verbally abused."

Garrett's attorney has the offer, but so far has not said if they'll even consider it.

He has said, though, that simply striking children who are hard to handle is not necessarily abuse.

He also has said that autistic children often hurt themselves and his client can't be blamed for everything that has ever happened to them.

Garrett may go to trial, working to prove her innocence.

The criminal trial is set for later this month if Garrett decides not to accept the deal.

Taped statements from teaching assistants are key pieces of evidence if the case goes to trial.

"His neck was on the edge of the desk right here, and his lips were turning purple," teaching assistant Sabrina Mort told investigators.

Baez said the deal calls for probation not prison. Garrett would lose her teaching certificate and wouldn't be able to be around kids.

"That is our responsibility to society, I think, is to make sure she does not teach again. And that is a crux. That is one of our major concerns," Goerner said.

Other parents of the children have also been consulted on the deal. They hinted that the deal would give Garrett probation, not jail.

"I don't have any faith that if I was to contact the school district that anything would be done unless these lights were shining on them," parent Carol Goings said in June 2005.

Baez said that although she at first wanted Garrett to get jail time, she believes that keeping Garrett away from children is more important.

"I thought she was going to get jail time, but just the guarantee that she wont be able to be around other children and have another child go through what I did, it's enough for me," Baez said. "The fact that she wont be around children for the rest of her life, it's almost like a jail within a jail."

If a deal is not reached, a jury would be selected in less than two weeks and the trial would start.

Garrett faces the potential of extensive prison time if she goes to trial and is convicted.

The civil lawsuits filed against Garrett by some of the parents start in Federal Court next month.

Previous Stories:

November 4, 2005: Teacher Accused Of Abuse Denied Trial Move
June 20, 2005: Report: 6 School Employees Failed To Stop Alleged Abuse
March 30, 2005: Teacher Pleads Not Guilty To Abusing Autistic Child
March 9, 2005: Teacher Arrested For Abusing Autistic Student
March 3, 2005: Teacher Accused Of Abuse Will Face Two Trials
January 6, 2005: School District Facing Lawsuit Over Teacher Accused Of Abuse
January 5, 2005: Teacher Formally Charged With Abusing Autistic Children
November 18, 2004: Teacher Accused Of Abuse Avoids Answering Questions About Case
November 17, 2004: Porn Found On Computer Of Teacher Accused Of Abuse
November 16, 2004: Teacher's Aides Assisted Investigators In School Abuse Arrest
November 11, 2004: Teacher Accused Of Abuse Worked At Five Local Schools
November 5, 2004: Seminole County Teacher Suspended After Abuse Allegations

Special-Needs Teacher Accused Of Harsh Abuse

November 11, 2004

SANFORD, Fla. -- A special-needs teacher allegedly used her 6-foot, 300-pound frame as a weapon against hard-to-handle kids.

Video

Affidavit Alleges Harsh Abuse At Hands Of Special-Needs Teacher

Her treatment of her autistic students is now being investigated by the school district and the legal system, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.

Kathleen Garrett, 48, covered her head and didn't speak to reporters after bonding out of jail Wednesday night.

"We have sworn testimony that Mrs. Garrett physically hit the children," said Lt. Dennis Stewart of the Casselberry Police Department.

The arrest affidavit for child abuse includes brutal accusations, such as a child losing his teeth after being slammed on a desk. She's also accused of laying on a student as punishment and striking a child after he wet his pants.

"She's been trained to teach special-needs students," said Richard Wells of Seminole County Schools.

The school district started investigating late last month.

"How does somebody with this type of training get accused of being so violent to these children?" NewsChannel 2's Dave McDaniel asked Wells.

"That's the reason we are investigating and to determine what the allegations are," Wells said.

He said Garrett's been teaching in the county for 26 years and there has never been anything wrong.

"Her personnel file does not look abnormal," Wells said.

Police officers said there are reports that the teacher took some kids behind closed doors.

"If these allegations are true, this would definitely be grounds for termination," Wells said.

NewsChannel 2 stopped by Garrett's home twice. No one would answer the phone and telephone calls to her home were not returned.

Garrett's autistic students at South Seminole Middle School are now being taught by substitute teachers.

If the charges are proven, it's likely Garrett will lose her teaching certificate.

The school district hopes to wrap up its investigation in the next few days. Only the school board has the power to fire a teacher, and the board's next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.