Teacher's discipline technique under fire

Pinellas officials are working to fire her, saying she pulled hair and used unnecessary force with mentally challenged students.

By KELLY RYAN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 16, 2001

Pinellas school officials are moving to fire a longtime physical education teacher accused of using inappropriate discipline on her special education students, including pulling their hair and throwing balls at them.

The district in March began investigating Susan M. Huber, who has worked at Paul B. Stephens Exceptional Student Education Center in Clearwater since 1980. A school volunteer reported that Huber repeatedly threw a heavy, 36-inch ball at her students until one was knocked over and hit his head.

The students at Paul B. Stephens, ages 3 to 23, are trainable mentally handicapped, profoundly mentally handicapped or autistic. Their abilities vary widely, and some students are unable to describe how they have been treated.

Huber, 50, has been suspended with pay since the last week of school in June. Superintendent Howard Hinesley recommended that she be fired, but Huber is contesting the punishment and has requested an administrative hearing.

School Board members on Tuesday will vote to suspend Huber without pay until the hearing process is finished. Huber's earns $49,600 a year.

Huber and her attorney could not be reached. Virginia Wirt, who became the school's principal in January 2000, sent home a letter to parents Tuesday, explaining that a teacher had been investigated for inappropriate conduct. The school has between 230 and 250 students.

All of Huber's recent evaluations say she meets or exceeds expectations. Several times in the past few years, though, Huber's discipline techniques have drawn concern.

In 1999, she received a verbal warning after a colleague saw her walking a student backward by pulling the student's hair. In April 2000, Huber was warned in writing about using unnecessary force in placing a student in a wheelchair and jerking a student's head back by pulling her hair.

In that incident, Huber told school officials she was not unnecessarily rough.

Then, in March, she directed an activity in which she rolled a large ball toward the students, who were supposed to push or kick it back. The activity teaches students to react to their environment.

When students didn't respond, witnesses said, Huber threw the ball harder. Huber was seen laughing as some students were hit and some cried.

"If Sue missed a student, she tried again," one witness said.

Clearwater police investigated that incident, but no charges were filed against Huber.

When the police investigation ended, Pinellas school officials began their own. As they talked to teachers, investigators discovered what they described as a pattern of excessive discipline.

In other cases, Huber has been observed stomping on a student's foot after the student stepped on her, grabbing a student's neck and dragging and pushing a student.

District lawyer Jackie Spoto said some of Huber's colleagues had reported concerns about her behavior to school administrators. School officials investigated the incidents they heard about but found them to be unsubstantiated.

Normally, any concerns about a teacher's conduct would be reported to the district or police. Officials said some employees at a special education center tend to be loyal to one another and suspect that outsiders don't understand the challenges they face daily.

"Since the feeling is so alone, I think there's a reluctance to have this come out," said Michael Bessette, a district investigator who has worked in a special education center. "They felt they dealt with it in most instances."

Wirt said in an interview that a school crisis team can help with disruptive students so teachers never have to handle them alone. If a staff member suspects a teacher is acting inappropriately, Wirt said she does not handle the matter herself. Instead, she said she or the witness calls the district or police.

"These were unfortunate incidents that will not be tolerated," Wirt wrote in her letter to parents. "We will ask the School Board to take appropriate disciplinary action to remove the teacher from Pinellas County Schools."

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