[Vision2020] School Choking - Did School Officials Dropped the Ball?

[Wayne Price]

Parents' horror as man walks into Idaho school and chokes fifth grade  
student - but teachers FAIL to call 911
Jerry Peery outraged after 10 year-old grandson held in 'choke-hold'
Byron Scott Edwards, 36, accused of assaulting children
Edwards is already held for charges of theft and drug possession
School is accused of failing in its duty to pupils and family
By JAMES BLACK
PUBLISHED: 07:53 EST, 21 December 2012 | UPDATED: 08:01 EST, 21  
December 2012


Outraged families are demanding an apology from a local school in  
Idaho after a 36 year-old man entered a classroom and assaulted fifth  
grade pupils, putting one in a choke-hold.
Grandmother Jerry Peery says she only found out about the incident at  
Highland School in the rural town of Craigmont, when her grandson  
returned home from school on Monday.
A warrant of arrest has been issued for Byron Scott Edwards, 36, who  
is already detained in prison over charges of felony theft and  
possession of methamphetamine.

Ms Peery is just one of the many family members who called the police  
regarding the incident, and now demanding an explanation and apology  
for delayed action over the assaults.
'The police were called only after the kids came home and started  
telling us parents what went wrong,' Ms Perry said. 'I would at least  
like an apology.'
Yesterday, after several days of investigation, a Lewis County  
Magistrate Judge issued an arrest warrant for Edwards.
Investigators want to question Edwards about his role in the episode.  
The warrant accuses him of three counts of injury to a child.

Edwards is now in jail in neighboring Nez Perce County, where he has  
been held since being arrested on Tuesday on felony theft and  
methamphetamine charges from Umatilla, Oregon, according to jail  
officials.
Lewis County authorities contacted Nez Perce County Sheriff's office,  
asking that Edwards be detained on the Oregon warrants while they  
continued their investigation into what happened at the school.
Edwards has a history of felony convictions in Oregon, including for  
burglary, robbery and unauthorized use of vehicles.

Authorities in Lewis County are investigating Monday's incident, Lewis  
County Prosecutor Zachary Pall said. He declined to comment on  
specifics of the case.
Ms Peery said that according to her grandson, Edwards entered the  
class Monday morning and became upset over something her grandson said  
to his son.

'He got very upset with the kids' and kicked some of her grandson's  
friends, she said.
'He tripped my granddaughter, as she was going down the aisle. He put  
my grandson in a chokehold,' Ms Peery added.

'One of the students said his feet were off the floor, and another  
student told her mom, which got back to us, that his face turned  
purple,' she said.
Shana Edwards, the 36 year-old's wife, said she's heard a different  
version of the story through her son, who was also in the classroom.
She was told Edwards had been given permission by school officials to  
assist students and was "roughhousing" with kids before he sought to  
discipline Peery's grandson after he had said something inappropriate.

Shana Edwards hasn't spoken with her husband yet in jail in Lewiston,  
but said she doesn't believe he physically disciplined the other boy.

'I doubt that he would slap a child,' she said. 'People that know us,  
know that my husband would not do that.'
Mrs Edwards believes local families consider her and her husband  
outsider because they moved to the area just three years ago.

'It's insulting, it's upsetting for my kids at Christmas to be without  
their dad,' She said.
'And we're not going to let people with pitchforks drive us out of  
town for something a kid said my husband did.'
Ms Peery maintains that the teacher of the class, a substitute failed  
to take control of the situation. She said it was only an hour after  
the incident that a student reported what had happened to the school  
office.
Highland School District Superintendent Cindy Orr said she went to  
investigate and found Edwards coming out of the room.

'He seemed frustrated but not agitated,' she said, adding he wanted to  
tell her his side of the story.

Orr said when Edwards left with his son, he was calm. She said she had  
no fears that he might harm the child. She also said he had followed  
the school's procedures.
The school has a policy of allowing parents into classrooms, provided  
they don't cause a disruption, she said.

When deputies from Lewis County arrived Monday afternoon, Orr also  
said she hadn't called them yet because she was still trying to  
determine what had happened in the class.

'It wasn't because we weren't going to do something,' Orr said. 'We  
just hadn't gotten to that point yet.'
Ms Peery said staff should have reacted more quickly, especially given  
attention to safety issues following last week's mass school shooting  
in Connecticut where 20 young children and six school employees were  
killed.

'I'd like the school to admit they were wrong,' Peery said, adding  
that she has now hired a lawyer.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2251560/Familys-fury-school-man-accused-choking-fifth-grade-pupil-class.html#ixzz2FhnQNalC
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