Parents: Teacher abusive

Marshell Mitchell recalled Wednesday the reason she took her 9-year-old autistic son out of Reed Elementary School in March.

"My own personal reasons? I was scared," Mitchell said as she began crying on the witness stand in Judge William Jansen's courtroom. "He came home with a black eye."

Mamie Hubbard-Washington, 64, is accused of physically abusing five of her special education students, including Mitchell's son, and could face five felony charges of child abuse and neglect in District Court.

Authorities allege Washington grabbed Mitchell's son by the back of the neck and rammed his face into a table, chipping his tooth.

Mitchell and other parents testified during the first day of Washington's preliminary hearing Wednesday. The hearing will resume Oct. 10, and at its conclusion, Jansen will decide whether enough evidence exists to send Hubbard-Washington to District Court for trial.

She is accused of slapping, hitting, force feeding, pinching and scratching the students.

Outside the courtroom, Hubbard-Washington, who began teaching at Reed in January 2006, said the accusations against her by parents were surprising. She said she has taught special education students since 1985, when she started in Illinois, and never had anyone accuse her of beating a student until this situation arose at Reed.

"This is about generating (law)suits for money. Everybody wants to sue the Clark County School District," she said.

The parents met last month to pick a civil attorney, who observed the preliminary hearing Wednesday in Justice Court. They are planning on suing the school district, said Bonnie Walker, whose child is alleged to have been abused by Hubbard-Washington.

Walker testified that the first time she met Hubbard-Washington she saw her trying to "yank" her child by the arm to a standing position out of his seat.

During curriculum planning meetings between the school and the parents who testified against Hubbard-Washington on Wednesday, the veteran teacher heard nothing but praise about how their children were progressing through the system, she said.

But the parents expressed dissatisfaction with Hubbard-Washington in court Wednesday, each describing how their children's behavior changed for the worse during the months in Hubbard-Washington's classroom.

Mitchell said her son began screaming frequently and feared going to school.

Joan Ferguson said her 7-year-old autistic granddaughter came home with bruises on her forearms.

"I honestly thought it was just playground material" that caused the bruises, Ferguson said.

But she said she began to notice when she raised her voice in the house that the girl would cower with her hands over her head to protect herself.

Ferguson said Hubbard-Washington told her that her child needed more discipline to control her "hooting and hollering."

Ferguson said Hubbard-Washington told her "she (her granddaughter) could spend the night at her house a couple of nights and she'd come back a different child."

Other parents described how their children came home with bruises and began flinching at loud noises soon after being placed in Hubbard-Washington's class.

Because of their autism, all but one of the children do not speak. One of the children recently began saying a few words.

When Mitchell's son chipped his tooth in March, she tried to get an answer from the school as to how it happened but never received an answer, she said.

The principal, Karen Bennett, testified the school was unable to determine what happened to the tooth.

The school received other complaints in March and April about Hubbard-Washington's students receiving mysterious injuries.

According to a Clark County School District police report, five teacher's aides also witnessed abuse in the classroom.

On May 4, the Clark County School District placed Hubbard-Washington on administrative leave.

Linda Anderson, a temporary teacher's aide in the classroom, testified she saw Hubbard-Washington slap an autistic child, Isaiah Williams, and grab him by the neck, "forcing his head against the table."

She said she also saw Hubbard-Washington yell at other students but said she did not see her physically abuse any of the other students.

Williams recently died in Maricopa County, Ariz., under circumstances not connected with this case. Clark County prosecutor Vicki Monroe said he had been killed but referred questions about the nature of his death to Arizona authorities.

A representative from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department did not return a phone call from the Review-Journal.