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Parents of Crotched Mountain School student detail abuse allegations

Keene Sentinel (NH) - 10/24/2014

Oct. 24--GREENFIELD -- About a year ago, Jessica Giberson started to notice something wasn't right with her young son while he was attending the Crotched Mountain School in Greenfield, she says.

The boy, now 9 years old, has global developmental delay and pervasive developmental disorder, which affects his ability to communicate and makes it difficult for him to explain things. But a year ago, her normally happy boy seemed scared and was behaving strangely, Giberson said.

From 2011 to June 2014, her son attended Crotched Mountain, a private school for special-needs students. At first, Giberson said she and her son were happy with his school. But she said she started seeing problems after her son started in a new classroom with teacher Ashlee Crouthamel of Peterborough.

On Wednesday, the Giberson family, of Sunapee, and one other family filed a civil lawsuit against the school in U.S. District Court in Concord, alleging their young children were verbally and physically abused by staff members at the school. A Rutland, Vt., woman who is the grandmother of a 12-year-old female student in Crouthamel's classroom has also alleged abuse.

The allegations of abuse included pinching and slapping the two children, and telling them they were "disgusting."

One aide allegedly photographed Giberson's young son naked on the toilet at the school and sent the photos via the social media app Snapchat to other aides.

Three aides in Crouthamel's classroom -- Jessica Burt of Hillsboro, Bethany Smith of Bennington and Heather Murawske of Peterborough -- have been arrested in a criminal case stemming from the allegations, according to Greenfield Police Chief Brian Giammarino.

The police investigation covered the allegations involving the young boy, but not the girl. In the civil suit, both families are alleging more abuse occurred than what is detailed in the criminal investigation.

In addition, two more Crotched Mountain employees, Human Resource Generalist Ruth Swain of Contoocook and Crotched Mountain Foundation supervisor Deirdre L. Grimes of Hillsboro, are named as defendants in the civil case.

They are accused of taking no action after hearing of the abuse from other staff members, according to the lawsuit's complaint.

Crotched Mountain officials say the suit has inaccuracies and untruths, and they will be responding through the legal system.

"The behavior that is alleged here is deeply disturbing and absolutely antithetical to Crotched Mountain's founding principle that everyone deserves to experience life with the highest level of dignity and respect," said Crotched Mountain Foundation Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Redmond.

Questions surface about time at school

Though he's 9 years old, the boy's mother says in some ways, her son acts more like a 3- or 5-year-old. But even with his developmental disabilities, he is still a happy kid, Giberson said.

"He's a really loving, cuddly little boy," she said. "He's very smart and very playful ... giggly and very fun."

But at one individualized education program meeting about a year ago, her son kept repeating the name of one of his aides, saying "no, no," and the woman's name.

"He was repeating himself over and over again, 'no, so-and-so,' 'no, so-and-so,' " said Giberson, who declined to name the woman. "We thought that was kind of weird that he would keep saying that."

Around the same time, her son was starting to pinch Giberson and his sister, sometimes on their noses and sometimes almost to the point of bleeding. His mother first dismissed it as a phase, but still thought it was strange.

Other problems surfaced. The boy was afraid to go to sleep at night and refused to sleep in his bed. He suddenly preferred the floor and wanted his mother to stay with him because he was afraid of something in his room, his mother remembers.

Giberson says she was shocked when Crotched Mountain School officials told her on June 6 that a classroom aide was abusing her son, pinching his nose and telling him there was a monster under his bed.

"It makes me sick," Giberson said. "I feel guilty."

There were other things, too. One of the aides, Murawske, was accused of taking photos of the boy while he was naked on the toilet and sending them over smartphone app Snapchat to other aides.

Snapchat is an app where the picture is displayed for a certain amount of time before it disappears. Even though Giammarino said police couldn't retrieve the photo from Snapchat, Murawske confessed to taking the picture, he said.

Murawske has already pleaded guilty to charges of violation of privacy and person requiring to report on Sept. 3 in 8th Circuit Court District Division in Jaffrey, and was fined $250 for each count, according to court documents.

Burt's criminal case will be tried in Hillsborough County Superior Court. She faces three counts of endangering a minor, three counts of criminal threatening, three counts of second-degree assault and three counts of simple assault. These counts stem from allegations of verbal abuse and of the nose-pinching incident.

Smith is charged with two counts of simple assault and one count of criminal threatening. She is scheduled to be tried on Nov. 12 in the Jaffrey court.

Parents want more done; officials

challenge case

But the boy's parents and the lawyers representing them say they want more to be done.

The civil lawsuit says Jessica Giberson noticed her son's penis was red and swollen, and he told her an aide in the classroom had squeezed it. She reported the incident to the teacher, who took no response, the suit alleges.

"The abuse that he suffered ... people need to be held accountable for these actions," said the boy's father, James Giberson.

James Giberson said he also believes Crotched Mountain School officials did not respond appropriately when they were notified of the abuse.

When school officials told the Gibersons of the abuse on June 6, James Giberson said officials had not yet called the police.

"I forcefully stated that the conversation was ending there and they were either going to call the police right now, or I was going to show up with the chief of police," he said.

James and Jessica Giberson say school officials would not release their son's school records to them after the abuse was reported.

"As far as cooperation, they locked the doors and kicked us out," James Giberson said. "They wanted to withhold records and they would not release internal reports that had bearings on this case."

In a statement released Thursday, a Crotched Mountain official said the school dealt with the situation proactively, informing the family, police and the N.H. Division for Children, Youth and Families.

"We thoroughly investigated the allegations ourselves, took quick action, terminated employees, and have cooperated fully with law enforcement," said Redmond, the senior vice president and chief operating operator of the Crotched Mountain Foundation.

Maggie Bishop, director of the N.H. Division for Children, Youth and Families, said she could not talk about specific complaints, but said that Crotched Mountain School is generally quick to report complaints to her bureau.

"They are probably our highest self-reporters," Bishop said. "They are very good about self-monitoring and self-reporting."

In the statement, Redmond also said the civil case filed against the school "contains inaccuracies and falsehoods and Crotched Mountain will respond accordingly through the court system."

Jessica Giberson said her son is in a new school, and is doing much better. But both she and James Giberson say they fear their son's experience at Crotched Mountain has affected him.

"He still has his issues," Jessica Giberson said. "He's still scared, he can still get aggressive with kids around him."

"One of the things that we hope to come from this is that no other child will suffer from this," James Giberson said.

Ella Nilsen can be reached at enilsen@keenesentinel. com or 352-1234, extension 1409. Follow her on Twitter @ENilsenKS.

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