TACOMA, Wash. — The parents of a young boy with autism in Tacoma are calling for accountability. Their calls for action come after a Tacoma Public Schools investigation found multiple instances where a special education teacher mistreated their child.
Although the teacher accused of the mental and physical abuse was fired in November, the parents say the people who are higher up at the school need to be held accountable too. That is why the parents of now 7-year-old Orion are calling for Skyline Principal Regina Lake to lose her job as well.
Orion is non-verbal and autistic and was a kindergarten student when the incidents happened last school year. The teacher who was terminated was special education teacher Kathleen Skaar.
“Orion did not deserve what happened,” said Lawrence Haskins, who is Orion’s father.
The first time Haskins and his wife heard about any issues was in March, but it wasn’t until May that Skaar was placed on leave after more incidents had occurred. This timeline and the incidents are all recorded in district documents detailing the investigation into Skaar.
Those documents show multiple instances of mistreatment of Orion, including the teacher throwing a chair that hit him, flipping over a table near him, grabbing, pulling and specifically targeting the child.
The report included interviews with several Skyline teachers, multiple said that this has been a pattern with Skaar for years. Haskins wishes people would have spoken out about Skaar and held her accountable earlier.
“If somebody would have said something years ago, this would have never happened to our son,” said Haskins. “So, we feel duty-bound to take this as far as we need to.”
The report shows Skaar denied the allegations and said in part: "I have asked for help repeatedly and haven't gotten it.”
She also said she was “just stopping behavior” and that “all day long I was just trying to protect kids."
Haskins said he is relieved Skaar lost her job but that people at the top need to be held accountable as well. He was planning to go to the Thursday night school board meeting to call for the school's Principal Regina Lake, to lose her job.
“As long as the people are in a position that gave her that space, as the report says, for years, to do this kind of thing, my wife and I will not be satisfied,” said Haskins.
The district sent KING 5 a statement saying in part:
"We are committed to looking closely at this incident to address any issues that may have contributed to or could be learned from in order to mitigate the possibility of similar situations in the future."
KING 5 did attempt to reach out to Skaar and Principal Lake but has not heard back.