By Kelsey Givens
A preliminary hearing for two Floyd Elementary educators charged with abusing handicapped students in 2010 will resume today in Pahrump Justice Court.
Nine witnesses, an assortment of Nye County School District employees, Floyd co-workers and family members of victims, testified two weeks ago when the preliminary hearing for former Floyd Principal Holly Lepisto and special education teacher Sarah Hopkins began.
The woman are facing felony child abuse and neglect charges.
The charges stem from several incidents that occurred between 2009 and 2010, involving Hopkins and several of her students.
According to witness testimony on Feb. 24, Hopkins was seen spanking, pushing, flicking and shaking some students as punishment for acting out. Many of Hopkins’ students were only about 6 years old at the time and suffered from a variety of ailments, including autism.
Lepisto was charged when she allegedly ignored complaints that Hopkins was violent with students. Lepisto was accused of not cooperating fully with police in the matter and later arrested at the school.
One of the first witnesses brought before the judge during the Feb. 24 hearing was Tammy Schoeck, a former teaching aide who worked briefly in Hopkins’ classroom.
It was she who helped start the investigation into the alleged abuse by filing an incident report with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in October 2010 after witnessing several incidents between Hopkins and two of her students.
Schoeck told the court that one of the alleged incidents she witnessed stemmed from a little boy refusing to write when the children were practicing spelling.
She said Hopkins went over to him and shook him and yelled at him as he cried, before sitting him out in the hallway where his crying wouldn’t be distracting to the other students.
“She just shook him to where his head was bouncing,” she said.
Schoeck explained to the court that another student in the class was flicked in the mouth for licking the tables, blowing raspberries or sticking her tongue out.
The same little girl was also seen by this witness and several others being spanked by Hopkins or one of the other aides for acting out — Phyllis DuShane, 72, was a former aide in Hopkins’s classroom who pleaded guilty in December 2010 to “swatting” and “popping” students. Charges were later dropped against a second aide arrested in the matter.
Another witness, Floyd employee Darlene Gutierrez, corroborated the spanking explaining to the court she witnessed one of the aides spanking the little girl in one of the hallways of the school.
“She was blind, if she couldn’t stay up with the class she would be swatted,” she said.
One incident was so upsetting for the school’s library aide it brought her to tears.
Nancy Cratty said she saw Hopkins harshly push down a girl when she tried to get up and walk away from the class while Cratty was reading them a story.
She admitted the child needed to be restrained for her own safety, but said the way Hopkins pulled her down was harsh.
In another incident, Cratty said she witnessed a little boy tugged on because he wasn’t getting up fast enough.
“One boy, for instance, moved very slow,” she said. “I saw her grab him and tug to get him up faster than he could move himself.”
Sam Simatos, the Nye County School District Director of Special Education Support Services, said corporal punishment is not permitted under the Nevada Revised Statute or under district policy.
“We don’t do it,” he said. “Corporal punishment is not allowed in this state.”
In the district’s official policy on the subject, it explicitly states, “The use of corporal punishment on any student by a staff member in the Nye County School District is expressly prohibited by the board of trustees and Nevada Revised Statue 392.4633.”
Any type of restraint of a student is against the rules, and if it does happen it’s supposed to be reported, Simatos explained.
Unless certain types of physical touch are approved by parents in the Individual Education Plan used with special needs students, teachers are not allowed to physically force students to do something.
Simatos said he was not familiar with any reports of restraint coming from Hopkins during the 2009-2010 school year.
However, he said during a conversation with Lepisto, she “indicated she had complaints,” but hadn’t done much about them.
“I said you need to investigate,” Simatos told the court.
Tammy McNeal, the mother of one of the allegedly abused children, said she had never been counseled on or approved the use of physical force on her child.
Bethany Tillman, the mother of one of the other children involved in the case, said the only reports she received during that year with Hopkins were that the child was being disruptive and the problem had to be fixed.
She said Hopkins never counseled her on ways to solve the problem, “just to fix it.”
During some of the testimony given by witnesses, Hopkins’ defense attorney, Las Vegas lawyer Thomas Pitaro, tried to show that Hopkins only used physical restraint because there was no other way to get the children to do what they were supposed to do.
“She was trying to get these kids in a difficult position to behave,” he said. “We’ve shown through this witness that in fact these things were done for a purpose.”
The hearing continues this morning at 9 a.m. in the Pahrump Justice Court. A judge is likely to remand the case to District Court where Lepisto and Hopkins could be arraigned in the coming weeks. Both women are each out of police custody on a $100,000 bond.
Seems to me that this matter was brought to the attention of district personnel (Simatos) who should have started their own investigation. Why is it that not one of the upper echelon is taking any resposibility?
This is so hard to read, it brings me to tears. These teachers are hired to be in charge of our most vunerable students and they can’t even treat them with respect or compassion. Shame on them! If these allegations are found to be true, then they need to be punished severely and never allowed around our children again!
If I were a juror in this case I think I would be OUTRAGED that the school administrators were not also on trial. The testimony above indicates they KNEW this was going on. Even absent this testimony how could so many other school employees know WITHOUT the administrators knowing.
I have to agree with you folks. Why is the district employee not being charged or in the very least terminated for allowing this to continue without an investigation?
I can’t think of a more despicable act (crime in this case),than being physically abusive to six year old developmentally and handicapped children. I’m embarrassed for my community for this having occurred here.
And to top it off, the labor agreement we have with the teachers union mandates these two be paid while this court case lingers on. Our kids get abused and the defendants get rewards, now tell me where justice is served in all of this?
If found guilty as charged, i want both of these women sent to prison for many years, let their fellow prisoners treat them with the same respect and manner that they visited on these children. And secondly, fine them more than they received in wages and benefits while this case lingered on.
“If found guilty as charged, i want both of these women sent to prison for many years………….”
They are NOT a threat to society is why we should NOT be sending these people to jail. These teachers have already lost their jobs and will never teach again in any systen where children are.Community service is warranted in this case IF FOUND GUILTY.
And why is it that almost everything is a felony charge these days ? You do know what you cannot own if you have a felony conviction against you, don’t you?
And they probably will lose their right to vote as Nevada is one of the most restrictive states for felony convictions. Probably not a big deal because if your vote really counted it would be declared illegal.
THAT WHICH CANNOT BE PAID…….WILL NOT BE PAID.
Rise up
and rise up again
until lambs becaome lions
and just what kind of community service should one recieve foe abusing children who can not defend themselves?
any person who abuses a child should be put away. those that abuse special needs kids need to be put away twice as long.
my son is autistic and at 14 has the mentality of a 5 to 7 year old and i can tell you that trust with these kids is a HUGE thing.
these so called educators abused these kids both physicaly and mentaly and because of there special needs do really think that they will ever be the same?
the punishment must fit the crime and community service does not fit.
It’s a sure bet the defendants attorneys would never allow you on the jury.
You are too much involved to have a reasonable debate with me or anyone else on this board.
i never said my child was a student at that school or was abused by anyone at anytime.
i was making the point that i know first hand that i know what these kids need and what trust means to them.
as far as havinf a resonable debate… as long as you think child abuse of special needs children calls for community service then you are correct…. you are being unresonable and i am willing to stake all i have that if it were your child you would be asking for more then community service. i know if it were my boy i would be out for blood.
so sir i say that until you can put yourself in those kids or their parents place then you don’t have a clue about which you are speaking.
guess again and William Wallace…
You two are dangerously close to arguing with each other about a difference of opinion. Everyone is entitled to theirs. Watch your step.
PVT
Yup, if its true, they need to be sent away. Bad enough there are abusive teachers out there, but there is no excuse to be abusive to kids who cant even stand up for themselves.
I want to apologize to the Nye County Sheriff’s Department for the negative comments that were directed at you when the initial arrests were made. Thank you for not buckling under to pressure from those that chose to criticize the department before they knew the facts.
I’m confused by some of the comments. Where in the article does it say that Sam Simatos was aware of what was going on? There’s no timeline listed. He says that he had discussions with Mrs. Lepisto in which she said complaints had been made, but nothing specific. He did as he felt appropriate: he instructed her to investigate. If she failed to do so, that was her failing. Not his. This is a difficult and tragic case, but let’s not blame the higher-ups just because you think they should be all-knowing and all-seeing.
His failing was to stick his head in the sand and not do any follow up as a competent supervisor should do. Forget the timeline bs, someone at the district office knew something was going on at the school and is now attempting to pass the buck.
Requesting that the Nye county sheriff’s investigate child abuse/medical neglect of Nye county youth by Eagle Quest of Nevada, Inc.
http://www.change.org/petitions/eagle-quest-of-nevada-inc-las-vegas-stop-concealing-child-abuse