7mo ago

Neglect at Boarding School for Autistic Youth Left a Student With Vision Loss, Lawsuit Alleges

www.propublica.org Neglect at Boarding School for Autistic Youth Left a Student With Vision Loss, Lawsuit Alleges

Washington education officials have told public districts in the state not to send new students to Shrub Oak International School in New York, citing ProPublica’s reporting and a visit to the campus.

12 comments

"Vision loss" sounds so passive. They knew he had a problem with clawing at his eyes, told his parents they could handle that, then let him (not quite literally, but probably would have gotten there if not for parental intervention) claw his own eyes out.

It's sickening that this is a for-profit school siphoning tax money only to abandon the people depending on them. I worry that if the awarded damages aren't enough or they settle, this lawsuit will just be the cost of doing business and nothing will change. These parents drove across the country to visit their son, not every family can or wants to do the same. Who knows what else is going on behind closed doors.
And they don't have any oversight or registration as a boarding school or a special needs school? How the fuck is this legal?

The investigation revealed how Shrub Oak has not sought or obtained approval from New York to operate as a special education school, which means it largely escapes oversight by education authorities and other state officials. It is also not a licensed residential facility. Though private, the school is mostly funded with public money through contracts with school districts across the country that send students there, then sometimes struggle to monitor residents’ progress or wellbeing.
This is just horrifying.

As awful as what happened was, you know what this article doesn't discuss? Why people are sending their disabled kids to a fucking boarding school in the first place. And then show what loving parents this kid has in the photos.
- What is your experience with taking care of adult severely autistic men with behavioral issues? It's sounds love you're blaming the parents for recognizing that they couldn't their son full time.
  
  They couldn't handle their son full time, so they spent a huge amount of money to send him to the opposite side of the country where they visited him for two weeks out of the time he was there and apparently never had any video chats because they didn't know about his eyes until that two weeks thing happened.
  And apparently he's easy enough to take care of for a two-week bike trip.
  You know what they could have done rather than spend all that money to send their son (who they definitely love very much since the article's pictures tell us so) to a boarding school where they never had to deal with him except for a couple of weeks every six months and never talk to him otherwise and gotten some in-home help. I just searched and it costs $254,000 a year to board someone there full time.
  Are you really going to tell me that their only option, for this son who apparently loves nothing more than to lay on his father's lap, hold his hand, and watch a Disney movie, was to send him across the country where they never saw him? Bullshit. They were tired of having to deal with him.
  I don't have to have personal experience taking care of a severely autistic man to have seen many very intellectually disabled adults out and about with people paid to care for them. I even have a friend who does it. And he does it for a lot less than $254,000 a year. And he wouldn't have let this poor guy blind himself.

Fair enough. It just seemed like you were judging unfairly. Thanks for elaborating your view and I agree with you.
- I think you meant to reply to a comment, not the post

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