A video showed a staff member at a special-needs school in Antioch striking a boy in the face, fighting with him and tackling him to the ground in January.
A video showed a staff member at a special-needs school in Antioch striking a boy in the face, fighting with him and tackling him to the ground in January.
Unnamed student seen being hit and taken to the floor by unnamed staff member in freeze frame of SnapChat videos taken at Tobinworld II special needs school in Antioch.
Unnamed student seen being hit and taken to the floor by unnamed staff member in freeze frame of SnapChat videos taken at Tobinworld II special needs school in Antioch.
Photo: Shared On Snapchat
Unnamed student seen being hit and taken to the floor by unnamed staff member in freeze frame of SnapChat videos taken at Tobinworld II special needs school in Antioch.
Unnamed student seen being hit and taken to the floor by unnamed staff member in freeze frame of SnapChat videos taken at Tobinworld II special needs school in Antioch.
Photo: Shared On Snapchat
Unnamed student seen being hit and taken to the floor by unnamed staff member in freeze frame of SnapChat videos taken at Tobinworld II special needs school in Antioch.
Unnamed student seen being hit and taken to the floor by unnamed staff member in freeze frame of SnapChat videos taken at Tobinworld II special needs school in Antioch.
Photo: Snapchat
Embattled Antioch special-needs school closes for good
An Antioch school for students with special needs permanently closed its doors Tuesday following a collection of controversies that included a teacher’s aide striking a 9-year-old boy in an episode caught on a cell phone video earlier this year.
The school’s executive director, Judy Weber, announced the closure July 6 in a letter to parents that blamed “false and misleading media attacks” for prompting Antioch and Oakland school districts to pull out students, and thus funding, from the Tobinworld II campus. A state review, however, previously found the school wasn’t following laws that govern the welfare of special-needs children.
“Both districts refused to fund Tobinworld II although we are certified by the California Department of Education!” wrote Weber, who couldn’t be reached for comment. A spokesman retained by the school, Bernie Roswig, said he couldn’t discuss the school’s closure or answer questions because of pending litigation.
Tobinworld continues to operate a school in Los Angeles County, but the Tobinworld II campus and its satellite classrooms in Antioch Unified School District locations have been shuttered. Tobinworld, a private institution that receives funding from public districts, teaches students ages 5 to 22 with autism or severe emotional or developmental disabilities.
An investigation by state education officials last year concluded that Tobinworld failed to comply with special-education codes that ensure the health and safety of students. The review found that Weber’s husband, Matthew Israel, an advocate of shock therapy, had been working for the school to design “behavior interventions” without the proper licenses, credentials, tuberculosis test or background check.
Crowded classrooms
The investigation’s report also noted that employees without the requisite credentials were teaching and that 4 of 10 classrooms had more students than was allowed in a contract with the River Delta Unified School District in Rio Vista, which sent students to the Antioch campus.
The state Department of Education suspended the school’s certification in August 2015, preventing it from enrolling students until it took several “corrective actions,” which it did, said Peter Tira, a spokesman for the department.
In January, a collection of videos circulated on social media that showed a teacher’s aide fighting with a 9-year-old boy, striking his face and tackling him to the ground. Antioch police stepped in and arrested the aide, Kamaljot Kaur, on suspicion of child abuse. She was charged alongside another aide, who allegedly witnessed the abuse and failed to report it.
The incident mirrored other allegations of abuse the school had weathered: A 2014 lawsuit accused school officials of restraining another 9-year-old boy and telling him he couldn’t eat snacks or use the restroom.
The January video prompted the Department of Education and state Attorney General’s Bureau of Children’s Justice to launch an investigations into the school. State officials once again yanked the school’s certification and outlined steps the school had to take to get it back. Tira said Tobinworld II took those steps and had its certification restored.
1 probe incomplete
The probe by the Bureau of Children’s Justice, announced by state Attorney General Kamala Harris, is still in its early stages, said Kristen Ford, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.
According to AUSD Superintendent Stephanie Anello, Tobinworld officials in March held a meeting with parents of students in the satellite campuses in an attempt to persuade them to send their children to Tobinworld II.
Pitch to parents
Doing so, they said, would certainly be a better educational experience — but, according to Anello, Tobinworld stood to gain more than $1 million by having the students at Tobinworld II rather than the satellite classrooms. School district officials were not allowed into the meeting but heard the details from parents, Anello said.
“We were told by the director that the meetings were closed and we were not welcome,” she said. “Parents were told Tobinworld had an attorney they could use if we tried to block students from moving.”
The secret meeting, coupled with the video of alleged abuse, prompted the Antioch school district to pull out 44 students from Tobinworld. Oakland Unified School District, which also sent students there, took out eight others, according to Weber’s letter, depleting the school of funds to continue operating.
Students who had attended Tobinworld II will now go to Spectrum Center in Pittsburg or the Sierra School of Solano County, according to KRON, which first reported the school’s closure.
Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
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