Anderson woman files claim against Cascade district

A legal claim for damages was submitted last week to the Cascade Union Elementary School District on behalf of Heather Curtain, one of two Anderson women who alleged in May 2008 that their special needs children suffered discrimination when district officials failed to follow up on complaints of peer sex- and disability-based harassment.

A copy of the claim was sent via e-mail to the Valley Post, and its receipt acknowledged Thursday, July 2, by Wes Smith, superintendent of the Cascade district in Anderson.

"We've got our lawyers working on this right now and they have pretty much silenced me on this issue," Smith said when asked if the claim was received.

Smith did go on to say that the district was not surprised by the claim since "there were rumors last year that she would seek some sort of legal action."

The six-page claim, filed by attorney Margaret M. Broussard in Antelope, Calif., on behalf of her client Heather Curtain, does not seek any punitive or monetary damages.

It does, however, seek 100 hours of "compensatory educational services in the area of mathematics" by a "credentialed special education teacher;" funding for one year of a real-time "voice captioning" computerized hardware and software that would allow a teacher's voice to be instantly transcribed into text on a student's desktop monitor; and, finally, "provide a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment" for Curtain's daughter, Jessica.

Jessica Nelson-Curtain, now 15, "has a complicated health history" that includes small stature due to Okihero syndrom, hearing impairment, poor eyesight and other, nonspecified, "learning issues," according to the claim.

She has been in special education since December 1997 and, as part of her Individualized Education Program or IEP, is entitled to the full-time services of an interpreter.

While attending Anderson Middle School, Jessica was constantly bullied by one or more fellow students who would yell into her hearing aids, take things from her, call her names, make suggestive comments and touch her inappropriately, according to her mother.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Region IX Office of Civil Rights in San Francisco ultimately found the district culpable when it "failed to follow its own discrimination complaint procedure in responding to the complaint, thus failing to provide the complainant with a prompt and equitable resolution."

The investigation, concluded in September 2008, further revealed that "although the District initially failed to respond" to the disability harassment allegation, "it responded immediately to notice of sexual harassment and then took effective action that ended the disability harassment," states a copy of the agency's findings obtained by the Valley Post.

As a result of the alleged bullying by students at Anderson Middle School, Curtain removed her daughter Jessica from the district and transferred her to Mistletoe School in Redding's Enterprise Elementary School District where Jessica, now 15, recently completed eighth grade.

"She is a totally different person after one year," Mrs. Curtain said of her daughter.

"Before, she was withdrawn and would hardly come out of her room. She hated going to school and she had very few friends," Mrs. Curtain explained. "Now, she has come out of her shell. She has made an unbelievable amount of friends at her new school, which she loves. She has not had anyone bully her since she left" the Anderson school district.

Academically, Jessica went from nearly flunking all of her courses in the Cascade district to earning several academic awards and placement on the school's honor roll at Mistletoe.

Mrs. Curtain attributes her daughter's near-miraculous turnabout in mood and academic success to the fact that school officials in Redding "follow her IEP exactly" and have "a zero-tolerance policy towards bullying."

"I've not asked for one penny for myself," Mrs. Curtain said Thursday, July 2.