Lawsuit claiming teacher abused Gaston County autistic students settled for $675K
A lawsuit accusing a Gaston County special education teacher of physically abusing three autistic students has been settled before trial for $675,000.
The families of the children at McAdenville Elementary School in Cramerton each received a third of the amount — minus legal fees — which will be paid by the insurance carrier for the Gaston County schools, according to documents in the case.
The 2020 complaint accused former McAdenville special education teacher Penny Pope Barker of physically mistreating special needs children as young as 5.
The suit also alleged that members of the Gaston County Board of Education took part in a conspiracy to hide “the gross failures of student safety and human decency taking place at their school.”
Yolanda Trotman, one of two Charlotte attorneys who represented the families, described the settlement as “partial justice.” She said her young clients were betrayed first by their teacher and school district, and later by the criminal justice system.
“... Our children were non-verbal autistic children. It was crucial for us as attorneys to give a voice to the voiceless,” Trotman said in a Thursday email to The Charlotte Observer.
“ ... There truly needs to be more systemic changes within the school system to hold teachers accountable when children are abused. But for the courage of a whistleblower teaching assistant, we would never have known about what these children endured.”
Raleigh attorneys Daniel Clark and Deborah Stagner, who represented the school board, did not respond to an Observer email seeking comment. Nor did Barker’s attorney, Grainger Pierce of Charlotte.
Todd Hagans, chief communications officer for the Gaston County schools, released a statement Thursday saying that the settlement is “not an admission of liability” by the district.
Rather, the statement described it as “a strategic decision by the Board of Education’s insurance company (Liberty Mutual) to avoid the costs of further litigation, including possible appeals, and to obtain a dismissal and full release of all claims.”
Hagans confirmed that Barker still works for the school system, though he would not disclose details of her current job.
The families’ lawsuit had accused Barker of multiple offenses, including assault and battery as well as violations of the children’s constitutional protections. According to the complaint, the abuse occurred over a five-week period beginning in early January 2017.
In one case, Barker took a stuffed animal that student “K.G.” had dropped on the school’s icy playground and squeezed it over the 5-year-old’s head, soaking him with the frigid water then refusing to let him change clothes, the lawsuit said.
In a separate incident, Barker grabbed student “C.A.” by the ears and lifted him off the ground, leaving the 6-year-old bleeding, according to the lawsuit. The boy’s parents learned about the assault only when it was reported on air by a local television station, the lawsuit claimed.
Barker’s behavior first surfaced when the aunt of a third student, K.M., began noticing bruises and bumps on her nephew’s body, the lawsuit said.
When the aunt questioned Barker about K.M.’s injuries, the teacher repeatedly explained them away, the lawsuit alleged.
The case broke open after one of Barker’s teaching assistants disclosed to the aunt that Barker was regularly abusing multiple students under her care.
Barker was arrested in March 2017 on two counts each of assault on a handicapped person and assault on a child under the age of 12. She was convicted that June in Gaston County District Court of the child-assault charges.
Barker appealed to Superior Court. According to the lawsuit, Gaston County prosecutors dropped the charges before the case went before a jury without informing the families involved.
The families’ co-counsel, Charlotte attorney Charles “Chip” Hinnant, described the D.A.’s decision as “improper and inappropriate,” as well as a sign that the allegations against Barker never received the attention they deserved.
“Our hope is that the settlement sends a clear message that the children must come first, rather than protecting the institutions that failed them,” Hinnant told the Observer in a phone interview Thursday.
Gaston County District Attorney Travis Page did not respond to an Observer email Wednesday seeking information about the handling of the case. Page did not head the office at the time of Barker’s arrest and prosecution.
Clerks in both the county’s District and Superior courts said they had no information on file under Barker’s name, a sign that the charges against her have been expunged.
The civil dispute was scheduled to go to trial this week in Charlotte before U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad. The settlement became final on Feb. 17.
The case is among a series of recent high-profile, Charlotte-area court battles involving the alleged abuse of special needs children by school staff.
▪ A 2018 police video shows an Iredell County school resource officer handcuffing, then sitting on and taunting a 7-year old autistic student for about 40 minutes after the boy had allegedly spit in an empty classroom. The resulting federal lawsuit filed by the boy’s family was settled in November. The terms remain confidential.
▪ A Statesville special education teacher was arrested in October 2019 and charged with two misdemeanor counts of assault on a handicapped person, including stuffing one boy in a trash can and holding him there against his will.
“From a mother’s standpoint it broke me. It was a pain like no other,” the boy’s mother later told the Observer. “It was like they were being tortured. That’s the only way I can think about it. It was torture. These were children. The stuff being done to them was unimaginable.”
The mother’s 2020 lawsuit was dismissed in June after a federal appeals court ruled the teacher had governmental immunity, according to WSOC, an Observer news partner.
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 10:59 AM.
