LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A former special needs teacher at Slaughter Elementary has been fired after breaking a student’s arm while restraining him in May.
Jefferson County Public Schools substantiated on July 10 an allegation that Christian Harrison broke a student’s arm during an improper restraint on May 23, district personnel and investigative records obtained by WDRB News show.
Harrison, whose training for Safe Crisis Management was set to expire in September, did not dispute breaking the child’s arm, which caused the boy’s hospitalization at Norton Hospital and attracted attention from Child Protective Services.
But Harrison has requested arbitration, an appeals process available to members of the Jefferson County Teachers Association in its labor contract with JCPS.
“There are still pending legal matters so we are not able to say anything at this time beyond what is in the personnel report,” JCPS Communications Director Renee Murphy said in a statement to WDRB News, noting that Harrison is currently terminated and not receiving compensation from the district.
She declined further comment on the situation, citing the district’s policy against speaking about personnel matters.
CPS did not find evidence of child abuse or neglect, according to a report of an Oct. 22 due process meeting between Harrison and Slaughter Elementary Principal Stacey Rowan. A review of local court records show no criminal or civil cases pending against Harrison.
His termination, included in the Jan. 14 package of personnel actions presented to the Jefferson County Board of Education, took effect Nov. 20. Rowan recommended his termination following the October due process meeting, and JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio concurred in a Nov. 18 letter to Harrison.
Narratives provided by JCPS in response to an open records request show that Harrison and a special education teaching assistant, Tina Tanzilla, told district investigators that he attempted to put the student in a cradle assist after the boy tried to scratch him in “time out.”
Investigators wrote in their report that Harrison told them he realized that he had the student in an improper hold and tried to release the boy’s right arm from the hold. He denied making such a statement in his due process meeting with Rowan.
When he tried to adjust the restraint, Harrison said in multiple reports that he heard a loud pop and immediately let the boy go. X-rays show the student fractured his right forearm, according to district records.
The student, who suffers from an emotional-behavior disability and has an individualized education plan that requires school staff to provide direct instruction in self-calming strategies when he becomes upset, immediately screamed, according to Harrison.
“Mr. Harrison stated that the incident happened so fast he could not be certain of how the hold could have made the break,” JCPS investigators wrote in their report of the incident.
A photo of the boy in a cast that covers nearly his entire arm, taken by a CPS representative on May 24, was included in the district’s case file. Records show he was released to his father about an hour and 45 minutes after the incident.
A black-and-white photo taken by Child Protective Services on May 24, 2019, shows the Slaughter Elementary student’s right arm in a cast the day after his teacher broke it.
Other witnesses, including Tanzilla and two special needs students in the class at the time, corroborated Harrison’s version of events, according to the district’s investigation.
The boy’s parents declined to make him available for an interview with investigators, the report says. The student had told CPS that his arm was held behind his back and that he had lost consciousness during the ordeal, but no witness backed up those claims.
Tanzilla told investigators during her interview that Harrison immediately recognized that he may have broken the boy’s arm.
“Ms. Tanzilla stated that as soon as it popped, Mr. Harrison let go and stated that he believed that he had just broken (student’s name redacted) arm,” the report says.
Harrison said in multiple narratives that he had escorted the student to time out after the boy poured milk on his food during lunch in the classroom, refused to go to the restroom with the rest of his class afterward, scratched at his table with a pair of scissors, and began kicking at the table and seats around him when Harrison took those scissors from him.
In a restraint and seclusion incident form, Harrison said the student had earlier in the day stabbed at his Chromebook laptop with a pencil and intentionally kicked a first-grade girl in his class. That document indicates that the boy became upset earlier in the day after he was told he could not play with building blocks.
Harrison told investigators that he tried to ignore the boy pouring out his milk during lunch and asked for and retrieved the scissors from him. But when the student told him to shut up when asked to stop kicking, Harrison decided to put him in time out and escorted him there.
He and Tanzilla expressed remorse in their debriefing of the incident. Both suggested creating a behavior support plan for the student to supplement his IEP.
“Physically I am fine, but mentally I just can’t stop thinking about it,” a narrative of Harrison’s response reads. “Could I have done things differently? I have a lot of regret.”
Harrison, who began working for JCPS in August 2013 and earned a $55,139 salary, could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. Records show he was reassigned from his teaching duties to the district’s clothing assistance program on July 29 before his termination.
JCPS has faced stiff criticism in recent years for improper restraints placed on students, particularly those with disabilities.
In one incident, a 16-year-old disabled student at the Binet School had two legs broken during a teaching assistant’s restraint in 2014.
In 2017, a wheelchair-bound, nonverbal Jacob Elementary kindergarten student had his leg broken during school.
While the Binet School family didn’t sue JCPS, the district agreed to pay them $1.75 million in 2016.
Brian and April Long, the boy’s parents, later took their story to Kentucky lawmakers in November 2016 in hopes of inspiring change at the state level. Brian Long later advocated for the state to take control of operations at JCPS in part because of what happened to his son.
Special education was one of several areas highlighted for improvement in a corrective action plan developed by JCPS and the Kentucky Department of Education as part of a settlement agreement to avoid a takeover of the district.
That plan calls for JCPS to review its restraint and seclusion trainings, regularly review data on when such practices are used in schools and ensure schools have at least five staff members who are trained in Safe Crisis Management, among other items.
Pollio has said all of the recommended changes in restraint and seclusion of special needs as “established” in its most recent progress updates on the corrective action plan to the Kentucky Board of Education.
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