Berryville School Board Sets Meeting To Decide On Paying Legal Fees
Last updated Friday, April 20, 2007 10:32 PM CDT in News
By Bob Caudle
The Morning News
The Berryville School Board has scheduled a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. Monday to consider paying legal fees for a teacher who has been placed on a statewide list for emotional child-abuse.
The state Department of Health and Human Services placed Berryville teacher Betty Cox on a statewide child-abuse list, after parents complained she bullied their children.
Cox confirmed the state placed her on the state's Child Maltreatment Central Registry earlier this month. However, Cox, who has taught for 18 years, says parents are misconstruing strict discipline for emotional attacks.
"I'll be the first to admit I am a strong, strict teacher. When kids come to my classroom, I expect them to behave and pay attention, and I don't apologize to anyone for that," she said. "But in this day and time, unfortunately, kids don't like it, and because kids don't like it, their parents don't like it."
Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said it is illegal to confirm who is on the registry. Munsell said people are placed on the list if state investigators believe there is evidence of neglect or verbal or physical abuse.
The subject is touchy because the teacher in question is the wife of school superintendent Mike Cox.
The incident began last fall when parents complained their sixth-grade child was being bullied by Betty Cox.
"They told (principal) Matt Summers that a teacher was bullying their son," Mike Cox said. "He (Summers) told them to put their complaint in writing. They came up with a list of 10 things. Summers investigated and found no instance of a student being bullied by a teacher."
Mike Cox said the complaint was treated the same as any other complaint against a teacher.
School board member Shannon Hill said at about the same time, board members received information from parents.
"We all received a packet in the mail from parents in the fall," Hill said. "Their complaints had the teachers' names and students' names blotted out. It didn't do a whole lot of good with the names missing."
Hill said on April 16 board members found out from the superintendent that Betty Cox was on the department's list. The board has subsequently approved a medical leave for Betty Cox for the remainder of the school year.
Asked if the board had been asked to approve legal fees in executive session, Hill said, "No comment."
Mike Cox, however, said he believes human services officials acted without giving his wife due process.
"DHS came out and interviewed a group of parents and the group was calling the DHS hotline," Mike Cox said. "The group of parents would encourage everyone else to call the hotline."
Mike Cox also says human services officials never talked to anybody from the school.
"They never talked to the principal who investigated the charge," Mike Cox said. "They never talked to any other teacher who had the same child in class."
Berryville School Board Secretary Vonda Bailey said the alleged abuse involved Cox's former student, Jerry Lou Schoe. Richard Schoe, the boy's father, has released documents detailing the allegations.
Those documents show Schoe claims Cox berated his son's intelligence, wouldn't provide a book the boy needed for an assignment and put him in a seat away from other students for six days in a row. Schoe has said his son considered committing suicide over Cox's actions.
The Schoes now provide home-schooling for the 12-year-old.
Other parents have picketed school board meetings with Schoe since the fall, complaining of similar emotional assaults by Cox. Parent Christi Armer said Cox constantly scoded her 13-year-old son and once poked him in the chest while screaming at him.
Another parent, Jo Butler, said Cox's behavior made her 13-year-old daughter afraid to attend her class last year.
In March, the school board placed Cox on paid sick leave for the rest of the year. She plans to appeal being placed on the state list.
"I have never mistreated kids in any way," she said. "I feel like I've been in a nightmare, and I'm going to wake up at any time."
Mike Cox said he believes the school district owes it to Betty Cox to pay for her legal bills because the district has done so before.
In 2005, Shelly Holman, then an assistant principal at Berryville Elementary School, was placed on the department's child-maltreatment list for allegedly paddling a child and causing bruises.
Holman took the matter to court and eventually a judge ordered her name removed from the list.
The school district paid the legal fees in that instance and Mike Cox said he believes the school district should pay in this instance, too.
"I think the school has the obligation to show support for its teachers," Mike Cox said.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.
Reader Comments (10 comment(s))
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What? wrote on Apr 21, 2007 8:12 AM:
Jeff Charles wrote on Apr 21, 2007 10:29 PM:
Paula Rajotte wrote on Apr 22, 2007 1:42 PM:
Former Student wrote on Apr 22, 2007 4:59 PM:
Mom wrote on Apr 23, 2007 4:45 PM:
Concerned wrote on Apr 24, 2007 10:44 AM:
Concerned Parent wrote on Apr 24, 2007 2:07 PM:
Gabriel wrote on Apr 26, 2007 5:37 AM:
PassingThruBerryville wrote on May 1, 2007 9:18 AM:
Not already registered?
Carroll Co. Citizen wrote on Apr 21, 2007 1:36 AM: