LAFAYETTE — The Tippecanoe School Corporation and its special education cooperative have agreed to a $575,000 settlement following a 2022 federal lawsuit filed by a student who alleged he was repeatedly locked in a small closet.
The student and his parents filed the lawsuit in March 2022 against the school district, the Greater Lafayette Area Special Services (GLASS) and employees.
According to the lawsuit, the student was diagnosed with multiple conditions including anxiety disorder, as well as unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder.
The lawsuit alleges the boy was forced into a small, unfurnished closet with no outside windows and a hard tile floor “for extended periods, as someone held the door shut from the outside.”
The student’s attorneys alleged he was secluded more than 100 times starting at the age of six.
The lawsuit alleged the Tippecanoe School Corporation disregarded Indiana law and the district’s seclusion plan which allows seclusion only when a student is “displaying behavior that presents an imminent risk of injury to the student or others” and after less restrictive procedures have been tried without success.
The district’s staff placed the child in the closet for reasons such as crying, rude language, arguing and not following directions, according to the lawsuit.
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The school corporation did not send seclusion reports to the child’s parents and also failed to properly report the incidents to the Indiana Department of Education, the lawsuit alleged.
The parents became suspicious after their child came home from school in urine-soaked pants and learned the boy had been in a seclusion room where he had to sit in another student’s urine, the lawsuit alleged.
The Tippecanoe School Corporation (TSC) and Greater Lafayette Area Special Services (GLASS) reached a settlement and a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in March 2024.
WRTV Investigates sent an email to the Tippecanoe School Corporation requesting only the settlement amount.
Superintendent Scott Hanback responded in April 2024 and denied our request saying the record is confidential.
WRTV Investigates Kara Kenney filed a complaint with the Indiana Public Access counselor, Luke Britt, who ruled in Kenney’s favor on July 30.
“Disclosure of government spending, whether explicitly through a remittance or implicitly through participation in an insurer, is a critical piece of information in fulfilling that goal,” read the PAC’s opinion. “Toward that end, Kenney should be provided with any monetary amount implicated in the document.”
On August 5, Hanback sent WRTV Investigates an email that said the “Tippecanoe School Corporation (TSC) and Greater Lafayette Area Special Services (GLASS) agreed to a total settlement amount of $575,000.00 (Five Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars and No Cents) to resolve all claims and obtain a release.”
Hanback said the school corporation and its special education cooperative only paid a small portion of the settlement and the rest was handled by insurance.
“Of that amount, Tippecanoe School Corporation actually paid $10,000, which was its insurance deductible, same for GLASS,” said Hanback.
WRTV Investigates contacted Erin Bauer, the Evansville attorney who represents the student.
“Unfortunately, neither the family nor I can make a statement on this case,” Bauer said in an email to WRTV.
