Lawsuit: Kansas school employee locked teen with Down syndrome in closet, storage cage

Associated Press

A lawsuit claims an employee of a rural Kansas school district repeatedly shoved a teenager with Down syndrome into a utility closet, hit the boy and once photographed him locked in a cage used to store athletic equipment. The suit filed Friday in federal court says the paraprofessional assigned to the 15-year-old sent the photo to staff in the Kaw Valley district, comparing the teen to an animal and “making light of his serious, demeaning and discriminatory conduct.” The suit names the paraprofessional, other special education staff and the district. No attorneys are listed for the district in online court records and phone messages and emails left with district staff weren’t immediately returned.