JAMESTOWN – The mother of a special education student at Maple Grove High School is speaking out after she says her son was mocked by his teacher in December 2019.
Bethany Reagan in an interview with WNYNewsNow says her 13-year-old twin sons, Jonah and Noah, both have individualized learning plans also known as an IEPs.
Reagan says this was not the first instance of conflict between Teacher Shannon Lingle and her son Jonah, but says things have gotten out of hand.
“He went to the teacher and he was telling her that he couldn’t find his pencil and when he was telling her he stuttered on the word pencil and to him she said (stuttering) ‘I don’t care,’ in his face, in front of the class,” explained Reagan. “He came home very distraught about it.”
So far, Reagan says she has filled out several Dignity for All Student’s Act reports against the teacher but believes the district has not done enough to help her son.
“For that class he is just put in a study hall,” said Reagan. “He is not receiving any math services now because they don’t have any other teacher.”
Reagan is asking the district to investigate the incident further and help create a positive learning environment for her boys.
“I just hope that they (the district) do the right thing,” said Reagan. “These DASA reports that go to the district are there for a reason, when you have six of them on one person, that is a lot, it needs to be looked into for everyone’s sake.”
Ryan Everhart, an attorney representing the district, responded to WNYNewsNow’s request for comment Friday afternoon.
“The District takes all claims of bullying and harassment seriously, and timely conducts a full and comprehensive investigation into such matters,” said Everhart in an email sent to our newsroom. “Contrary to your article, and in accordance with its policies, the District did in fact conduct an investigation into Ms. Reagan’s claims, and determined that they were inaccurate and unfounded.”
“I unfortunately cannot provide you more detail about the investigation, because this information is confidential under federal law,” Everhart furthered. “Ms. Reagan was notified of the results of the District’s investigation.”
Additionally, Everhart requested that the teacher’s name be removed from our coverage.
After consideration WNYNewsNow has declined to remove the teacher’s name from our report, however according to the district she has been cleared. It is the policy of WNYNewsNow to include the names of people accused of crimes or incidents prior to the conclusion of their case.
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