Teacher’s former supervisor takes stand

The former assistant principal of Reed Elementary School testified in Justice Court on Wednesday that he was happy with the performance of the special education teacher accused of abusing her autistic students.

"We were very pleased from the get-go," said Randy Cheung, who is now the principal of J.T. McWilliams Elementary School.

He said that when he visited Mamie Hubbard-Washington's classroom he observed that she better engaged the students and increased their involvement in activities than did the long-term substitute she replaced in January 2006.

Hubbard-Washington became the focus of a Clark County School District police investigation in May after a year's worth of complaints from teaching assistants and parents who had told Cheung they had concerns about her behavior.

The school placed her on administrative leave May 4.

Hubbard-Washington, 64, faces five felony charges of child abuse and neglect for injuries authorities allege she inflicted on her autistic students at Reed in 2006 and 2007. Wednesday was the third day of testimony in her preliminary hearing.

Defense attorney Vince Consul put Cheung on the witness stand to testify about two investigations Cheung conducted on complaints regarding Hubbard-Washington. Neither inquiry resulted in any discipline for the instructor.

In 2006, Cheung said, he investigated Hubbard-Washington after Marshell Mitchell complained that when her 9-year-old son got off the school bus, she noticed he had a chipped tooth.

Cheung said he spoke to Hubbard-Washington and her teacher's aides and determined the tooth was not chipped in the classroom.

"It could have happened on the bus, and that's what I reported to the mother," he said.

A former teacher's aide in Hubbard-Washington's classroom, Latasha Burse, had told a different story when she testified Oct. 10.

She said she had heard a loud bang in the classroom and turned around to see Hubbard-Washington with her hand on the boy's neck and surmised the teacher had just slammed his face into a table top.

Burse went to the boy who was crying and saw that his lip was bleeding and his tooth was chipped.

A few months after Hubbard-Washington arrival at the school, Burse began complaining to Cheung about Hubbard-Washington's behavior, which included yelling at the children, some of whom cannot speak, and hitting students with a yard stick, Burse testified.

Burse said it seemed as if Cheung and the principal were investigating the teacher all the time because they were frequently in the classroom.

The next year, Cheung said, a roving teacher's aide placed in Hubbard-Washington's classroom reported to him that she had seen Hubbard-Washington force another autistic boy, Isaiah, to a garbage can to spit his food out.

Cheung said Hubbard-Washington explained to him that she had helped the boy spit his food out after he had crammed too much of it in his mouth.

"From what I understand nobody forced him to do anything," Cheung said.

Cheung said he watched Isaiah and his class eat lunch daily in the cafeteria and the boy was known to be a "good eater" and often ate other children's lunches quickly when he wasn't watched carefully.

Cheung figured he must have gotten food in the classroom after lunch when the trash can incident occurred.

"We've seen chipmunk cheeks on him," Cheung said.

When asked by prosecutor Vicki Monroe about Hubbard-Washington's credentials, Cheung, who hired her, said he couldn't recall them.

"I don't remember, but I know she was qualified," he said, adding that he got her name from a district-approved list of candidates for the position.

He said he did a phone interview with Hubbard-Washington and called her references before hiring her.

She has said she has never had an abuse complaint lodged against her since she began teaching special education students in Illinois in 1985.

Hubbard-Washington and Consul declined to comment Wednesday, but the teacher has said she believes the charges are false and motivated by parents trying to sue the school district. Consul has also complained in court that many of the prosecution witnesses cannot provide specific times for when the alleged abuses occurred.

Aram Kouyoumdjian, a lawyer representing parents of children alleged to have been abused by Hubbard-Washington, called Cheung's testimony "extremely vague."

"It was peculiar that Mr. Cheung couldn't give specifics about this teacher's qualifications and credentials," he said.

He emphasized that Burse was informing administrators about complaints for a year, before any action was taken by the school.

Kouyoumdjian said it also was disconcerting that the police investigation of Hubbard-Washington didn't begin until someone complained to a district administrator in the Northwest region.

Monroe questioned Cheung about why someone would seek help from the district rather than himself or the principal with a complaint about Hubbard-Washington, prompting a heated courtroom exchange.

Cheung said, "Parents will do that all the time. ... They have a concern and they want to get ..."

Monroe cut him off. "Something done. Is that what you were about to say?"

"No, it wasn't," Cheung answered. "Now you're leading."

Monroe asked Justice of the Peace William Jansen to admonish Cheung to answer the question, and Consul asked the judge to prevent Monroe from interrupting his witness.

After that, both attorneys said they were done questioning Cheung.

Jansen said he wants to hear both sides' arguments Tuesday before he makes a decision on whether to send the case to District Court.

Contact reporter K.C. Howard at khoward@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-1039.