Kansas school employee locked disabled boy in cage, compared him to 'animal,' lawsuit says

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas school employee allegedly locked a boy with Down syndrome in a cage used to store athletic equipment, then shared a photo of the student with district staff while comparing him to an animal, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday.

The alleged action was part of a larger pattern of abuse outlined in the suit, where a Pottawatomie County paraprofessional is accused of yelling derogatory words in the 15-year-old boy’s face, yanking on his shirt collar, striking him, and on multiple occasions locking him in a dark utility closet. The suit accuses other special education staff of failing to take action.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in the Kansas City, Kansas, division of the U.S. District of Kansas. It is brought by a Silver Lake couple, Heather and Jeff Bahner, the parents of the boy, identified as C.B., and alleges violations of federal civil rights protections for people with disabilities.

Named as defendants alongside the school district as a whole are Albert Bahret, a paraprofessional accused of striking and confining C.B. in unlawful seclusion areas; Taylor Hurla, a special education teacher; and Sarah Sanders, director of the district’s special education services program.

The Kaw Valley district enrolls roughly 1,060 students, and is based in St. Marys, roughly 30 miles northwest of Topeka.

Superintendent Kerry Lacock, who also serves as the district’s public information officer, did not immediately reply to The Kansas City Star’s requests for comment by email or voicemail on Friday afternoon.

Matthew Rogers, a Lawrence, Kansas, attorney representing the family, said in a statement to The Star that no disabled student “should be forced to endure the discriminatory treatment that C.B. has gone through at the hands of the school district.”

“The Bahners were horrified to learn that C.B. — a particularly vulnerable child, given the extent of his disabilities and that he is only partially verbal — experienced the treatment described in their lawsuit, including placement of C.B. in a locked cage,” Rogers said. “The Bahners look forward to prosecuting their case and receiving justice for C.B.”

C.B. attended St. Marys Junior and High School beginning in 2022, according to the lawsuit, where Bahret was assigned to assist the child with his special educational needs.

On more than one occasion, the lawsuit says, Bahret allegedly placed C.B. inside a utility closet “not designed or intended to be used to place students for any reason.”

Bahret is accused of pushing and shoving the child into the closet more than once. He also allegedly struck the boy in the face or neck.

C.B., whose disabilities render him partially nonverbal, used the words “hit,” “Bert,” and “closet,” to describe that instance of abuse, according to the lawsuit.

The same paraprofessional also pulled the boy around by his shirt collar, using enough force to obstruct C.B.’s breathing, and frequently used derogatory language to address him, the lawsuit says. The family alleges the school district knew of these incidents, and officials had described their actions as necessary or “tough love.”

In perhaps the most egregious offense alleged, Bahret is accused of locking C.B. inside an athletic equipment storage area for an unknown amount of time. The paraprofessional snapped a picture of the boy in confinement and shared it to other district employees, the lawsuit says, “analogizing C.B. to an animal and making light of his serious, demeaning and discriminatory conduct.”

A copy of the photograph, edited to obscure C.B’s face, was included in the lawsuit. It shows a young boy standing beside football helmets, holding a basketball, in a caged area with a locking door.

After putting the boy in the cage, the lawsuit says Bahret had to ask other district employees to let him out because Bahret did not have a key.

Other instances of alleged abuse while under the district’s care include leaving C.B. in soiled clothes and denying him food at lunchtime. Bahret was also known to disappear with C.B. “for great lengths of time to unknown locations and for unknown reasons.”

Mistreatment of the boy has led to self-harm, diminished communication and other traumas, including an intense fear of dark spaces, according to the lawsuit.

“He rips his hair out, so much so that he has large bald spots on his head,” the lawsuit says. “ … C.B. quit using his words, and now just stands and drools. He is terrified of the dark.”

Hurla, the special education teacher, is accused of witnessing Bahret’s conduct, being informed of other concerns and ultimately neglecting her responsibilities to supervise him. C.B.’s parents also allege the teacher lied to them when they asked if their son had been experiencing negative treatment at school.

Sanders, a superior to Hurla and Bahret, “also actively participated in defendants’ campaign to hide the unlawful conduct” from the Bahners.

The lawsuit accuses her of concealing staff complaints and encouraging those under her direction that “what happens in the classroom stays in the classroom.” Sanders also incorrectly advised those under her command not to make reports with the Kansas Department of Children and Families, including by telling one employee that school professionals are not mandatory reporters.

In addition to violating the child’s civil rights, the lawsuit alleges the district broke state laws and its own policies with regard to special education students.

The lawsuit comes as several parents of special education students in Kansas and Missouri have raised concerns in recent years about the use of seclusion rooms in their districts, worried that staff are unfairly isolating children rather than helping them to de-escalate. The Kaw Valley suit represents an especially egregious allegation regarding the use of seclusion in schools.

Kansas law allows schools to place students in seclusion rooms as an emergency intervention, only after less restrictive alternatives have been deemed inappropriate, and when a student presents a “reasonable and immediate danger of physical harm to such student or others.”

The law states that seclusion rooms must be a safe place with similar characteristics to other rooms where students frequent, that are “well-ventilated and sufficiently lighted.”

The lawsuit accuses the school staff of not only using unlawful spaces to isolate the boy, but also in response to behavior that “came nowhere close to constituting” a danger to himself or others.