| Teacher at Higashi School convicted of harming student 2 more said to flee Randolph facility By Megan Tench and Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff | June 29, 2005 RANDOLPH -- A former teacher with the Boston Higashi School in Randolph, known for its unorthodox methods of teaching autistic students, has been convicted of causing serious bodily harm to a student. Two other teachers also charged with assaulting the student have fled, possibly back to Japan, the Norfolk District Attorney's office said yesterday. The teacher, Naoya Nishimura, was found guilty Friday in Quincy District Court of dragging Scott Tedeman across the floor, bending his fingers back, and assaulting him multiple times a week between January and July 2000, when Tedeman was 18. Nishimura was sentenced to 30 days in the House of Correction. Arrest warrants have been issued for the two other teachers charged with assaulting Tedeman, Masakatsu Nagata and Masakata Kunihiro. ''They were both charged, and they both fled," said Kevin Bowe, spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney. The charges have revived questions about the Japanese training method, in which severely disabled students are weaned from medications that control behavior and are taught self-control through vigorous exercise and highly structured activities, such as art and music. Complaints about the Boston Higashi School, began to surface soon after its founding in 1987, said state officials. At one point, the state Office of Child Care Services appointed a monitor for a year, after investigators found that some students had unexplained injuries. Since then, there has been a complaint after surveillance cameras photographed an instructor pulling a student's hair, and there have been allegations in a pending civil lawsuit against the school by Tedeman's parents, who say they found bloody abrasions on their son's back. School administrators stand behind the Higashi method. The charges ''are quite surprising to us," Mike Kelly, the school's chief operating officer, said yesterday. The case against Nishimura rested on a key witness, who was employed at the school in 2000 and who told police that he saw Tedeman being abused by the three instructors and that the Japanese staff would employ ''improvised restraint," including bending students' fingers, behind closed doors. ''The difficult students would be handled by the Japanese staff," the witness said in a police report. ''It appeared there was an expectation of success with the Japanese staff." Kelly disputes the witness's assertions, pointing out that it took him four years to come forward. The witness and the Tedeman family could not be reached for comment yesterday. Kelly said a state investigation was launched after the two teachers who fled were implicated in an incident that occurred in July 2000. Scott Tedeman suffered a rug burn, though Kelly said it is still not clear how serious it was or whether it was self-inflicted or caused by an instructor. The school fired Kunihiro in September 2000 after the investigation concluded that he was either involved or should have taken steps to prevent the injury. According to Kelly, Kunihiro went back to Japan. The school concluded that the other teacher, Nagata, was not involved in the incident, and he remained on staff, Kelly said. He worked at the school for two to three more years and then returned to Japan, Kelly said. The Boston Higashi School, a K-12 school with a residential program, has also won the loyalty of many parents who say that they have watched as their children -- who compulsively flapped their arms, banged their heads, and scratched themselves -- have blossomed at the 135-student campus. The school draws students from across the country and several foreign countries. It is one of more than 200 private special education schools in the state where Massachusetts students can attend on state-financed tuition. Jeannine MacKinnon of Reading, who said her 12-year-old son has attended the school for six years, said she is there almost daily to pick him up and has never seen any instances of abuse. ''For us, the school has been the answer to our prayers," she said, adding that her son has become more physically active and emotionally stable since he began attending. She said she believes the abuse allegations result from isolated teacher conduct. ''Any school might have someone bad in it," MacKinnon said as she picked her son up yesterday. But the school has also drawn criticism over the years from parents who say teachers are overly harsh in their use of discipline, allegedly leading to bruises and trips to hospital emergency rooms. Many of those complaints have been called in to the state Department of Social Services, said Denise Monteiro, the department's spokeswoman. The most recent case, filed on June 17, involved another teacher and student, she said, but the allegation could not be proven. State education officials said the school, whose license expires in 2006, is up for review in the fall. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/06/29/teacher_at_higashi_school_convic ted_of_harming_student/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City%2FRegion+News |