WILLMAR -- The case of a special education student who was allegedly mistreated in the Willmar Public Schools is on its way to federal court.
A state hearing officer dismissed a request for an administrative hearing on the student's allegations that she was mistreated by special education teacher Lisa M. Vander Heiden, and that school officials did not intervene when told that the teacher was using improper isolation and restraint techniques.
Administrative Law Judge Raymond R. Krause said in his order that the case should be dismissed because the child's parent had not filed the request while she was still a student in Willmar schools.
The judge wrote in his decision that state statute requires that an administrative hearing be sought before a student is enrolled in another public school.
In the request for a hearing, the student's mother, Jackie Nelson, said she removed her child from Willmar schools in late 2006 after school officials had refused to guarantee that the girl would not come in contact with Vander Heiden.
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Margaret O'Sullivan Kane of St. Paul, Nelson's attorney, has already notified the school district that she plans to appeal the order to U.S. District Court.
According to information contained in a state investigation of the situation a year ago, the district, through the actions of its teacher, violated state and federal regulations in the treatment of the girl while she was in first and second grade.
Among the violations listed in the report -- placing the girl in an isolation room after an expert hired by the district recommended against it, using a study carrel for disciplinary purposes and once denying the child access to the toilet. The investigative report also found that the district did not follow the girl's individual education plan.
