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Loudoun teacher linked to student death placed on leave
A Park View High School teacher linked to the death of a Texas special education student in 2002 has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Dawn Marie Hamilton, who teaches special education at Park View in Sterling, was not criminally charged in connection with the incident at a Texas public school when she used a “therapeutic floor hold” on 14-year-old Cedric Napoleon after he refused to stay in his seat.
However, according to government documents, a Texas judge who reviewed the case said she used “excessive, unnecessary force,” and made the decision to place Hamilton on a state registry of individuals accused of abusing children.
Hamilton, who weighs around 230 pounds, lay on the 129-pound boy. Soon after, he died.
Wayde Byard, spokesman for Loudoun County Public Schools, said the school system learned of the incident May 14. Hamilton was placed on administrative leave May 15, pending an investigation.
Byard said the incident was not revealed in a background check when Hamilton was hired two years ago.
Background checks involve fingerprints being sent to the FBI and Virginia State Police to check for an arrest or conviction, Byard said.
Hamilton was not arrested or convicted in Texas, which is why she passed the background screenings.
Loudoun County Public Schools also conducts a Child Protective Services search to see if there are any complaints involving children against the potential employee, he said, and Hamilton's employer references also turned nothing up that was out of the ordinary.
Parents with students at Park View have been notified of the situation, Byard said.
The information about the case was revealed during a congressional hearing May 18, which featured testimony from Government Accountability Office officials on restraining children in schools.
Contact the reporter at ecoe@timespapers.com
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