What W.Va. state law says about special education classroom surveillance?

The stunning allegations of verbal and physical abuse of special needs children at Horace Mann Middle School will likely be easier to prosecute thanks to cameras in the classroom.

"This is why I wanted cameras," Amber Pack said.

Pack knows this situation all too well. Her daughter's abuse by special needs aides in Berkeley County in 2018 is what created change in West Virginia state law.

"Special needs children are three times more likely than children who don't have special needs to be abused. It's sad, and it's sad that it happened so soon after what happened to my daughter," Pack said.

The law says cameras are required in "self-contained" special needs classrooms. These are rooms for kids that fall under the categories of "severe" or "profound."

Kanawha, Cabell and Roane County schools all confirmed they are up to date on what the law requires.

Roane has 20 special education classrooms, but only five have cameras because they are self-contained.

"Those are the classrooms that students spend the majority of their day with, usually with one teacher and other personnel, aids and so forth," superintendent Richard Duncan said.

While this law is only for special needs students in the self-contained rooms, many kids are not protected by camera surveillance.

"I think the nature of where we are as a society, unfortunately there have been too many incidents where there have been accusations made and because for whatever reason we don't have those cameras available," Duncan said. "It would certainly help us as a district and help us all as educators to have that accountability."

Some reasons for not buying more cameras, Duncan said, are cost and culture.

"One is logistics, the cost of doing installations,” Duncan said. “The nice thing about the special education classroom cameras that are required is that the legislature did provide funding for those to be installed, so that was one less barrier that districts had to worry about to get those cameras in place. The other thing I would say is just a matter of culture. It's different when you are under a watchful eye all the time."

Pack urges parents to listen to their kids and trust their gut when things don't seem right.

"I just want to say sorry to the parents,” Pack said. “It's tough, and it ruins your life for a while. I hope justice is served."

Source: wchstv