City special-ed lapses increase school violence

Frangipani said King should have given the student in-school suspension and taken district training to become better acquainted with regulations.

Plenty of blame to go around

He was supposed to get 30 hours of help each week, including 10 hours of group counseling, which Germantown did not provide, the district acknowledged in court records.

He was placed in a class to receive academic help four hours per day. But mostly he roamed the halls, fought and smoked marijuana, according to court testimony.

"He didn't get no help," said Gregory Mickeals, Footman's father. "No emotional support. No learning support."

Footman got nine suspensions for cutting class, being in the wrong place, fighting, and threatening students, and was kept out a total of 32 days, longer than the 15-day legal limit.

Because of Footman's many infractions, Germantown decided to send him back to Boone. Footman and his father agreed and signed paperwork Nov. 27, which saved the district from having to make its case at a hearing.

But Footman never returned to Boone.

The transfer was stalled because a special-education teacher had not devised a new education plan for Footman due on Nov. 10 or completed other necessary paperwork. Administrators had sent memos directing her to do so, the district wrote to Footman's attorneys.

Germantown principal Rose Ford, who declined to be interviewed, should have known all about Footman. She was principal at Roosevelt in 2004 when Footman assaulted an administrator there.

School officials said the transfer to Boone had not been a priority because Footman's many offenses were not serious enough to warrant immediate action. They hadn't involved weapons, drugs or serious injuries.

And Footman got some academic help at Germantown, said Taylor, the district's head of special education.

"He wasn't always in the halls," said Deborah G. DeLauro, a school district lawyer. "Unfortunately, he was in the hall that day, and that tragic thing happened - for everybody."

Burd was overwhelmed to learn that Footman didn't have to be at Germantown, and that he should not have been hurt. Yet he doesn't blame any one person for what happened.

"I feel bad for everybody - the kid who was missed and the assistant principal who probably was doing 20 other things," said Burd, whose injuries turned public attention to escalating violence against teachers.

Footman, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in a state juvenile facility for assaulting Burd, accepted blame, his attorney, William A. Bachmann, told a judge last month.

But Bachmann added, "Germantown failed legally and morally" in its duties to Footman.

Mickeals, Footman's father, acknowledged that he had not followed through at times with his son's treatment and medicine.

"I don't give the school all the blame," he said.

But Mickeals is upset that Germantown didn't transfer his son to Boone.

"That's three months," he said. "If there wasn't the delay, I don't think he would have gotten into this trouble."

For video interviews, legal information and past articles on violence against teachers go to

Coming Tomorrow

An angry 8-year-old boy's struggles in school illustrate a growing need to coordinate behavioral programs.

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