Mom Says Son With Down Syndrome Was 'Left Outside School Naked And Crying'

Sep 20, 2019 by apost team

The mother of a special needs child in the United Kingdom is claiming that school officials treated her son in a callous manner last year. Levi Blackshaw is an 11-year-old student at Stanley School in Pensby, Wirral. Levi is nonverbal with Down syndrome and several other health issues.

Last October, when Levi began acting out and took his clothes off after playing with water, Levi’s mother, Suzanne Cole, told The Liverpool Echo that school officials sent him outside for over half an hour. The furious mother says that CCTV footage of the incident shows the naked Levi "curled up in a ball crying like a baby" as teachers watch him from a classroom window.

After 11 months, Suzanne is happy to hear that the school employees responsible for putting her son through such trauma are finally being held accountable. The Echo reports that three staff members at Stanley School have been suspended as the board of governors launch an investigation into Levi’s treatment.

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Those staff members include deputy head Cecilia Maxwell, headteacher Anthony Roberts, and assistant headteacher Helen Clements. The Echo points out, however, that suspension does not necessarily mean that the three educators are guilty of wrongdoing.

Rather, the suspensions allow for the board of governors to investigate the incident to the fullest extent of their authority.

Suzanne reported the incident to the police last year with her partner, Alex Kearney, but were informed by law enforcement that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the three staff members.

Suzanne, who has five other children, wasn’t even aware of the incident until the following day, when someone who witnessed Levi crying informed her of it. Upon hearing the news, Suzanne said, "When I found out I was just crying. I went into the school and I nearly smashed the classroom up. My partner had to get the social workers and I had to be removed from the building."  

Continuing in her interview with The Echo, Suzanne said that it took the school two weeks to get her the CCTV footage. When she finally saw it, Suzanne was heartbroken, weeping over the trauma experienced by her son.

Suzanne says that it is all the worse because, as Levi is nonverbal, he will never be able to tell her or anyone else how much harm the incident caused him. Overall, Suzanne feels that the school violated her trust and that they should have done more to protect her son.

What do you think of Levi’s story? What should be done to teach educators how to respond to children with special needs?