MCSD video of disputed 2016 student-staffer confrontation should be public record

Consider this a self-serving argument if you choose. Be that as it may:

The Sept. 12, 2016 Muscogee County School District surveillance video of a classroom altercation between a then 13-year-old student and a behavior specialist at Edgewood Student Services Center should be a matter of public record.

As reported by Tim Chitwood, the Ledger-Enquirer has filed suit in Superior Court seeking release of the video that recorded a classroom confrontation and physical restraint of student Montravious Thomas by privately contracted specialist Bryant Mosely. That incident preceded — and, the Thomas family contends, caused — an injury that led to multiple surgeries and ultimately the amputation of the lower portion of the teen’s right leg.

The family has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the district, which refused to make the video public despite repeated open-records requests, but later agreed to release it with the permission of the Thomas family. That permission was denied. What we’re left with, for now, are conflicting and confusing anecdotal accounts, told from the perspective of those directly or indirectly involved.

The MCSD initially refused to release the video on the grounds that it would be “an invasion of personal privacy” under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) because it falls under the definition of an “educational record.”

Augusta attorney David E. Hudson, representing the Ledger-Enquirer, said the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that the privacy act applies only to areas such as academic and financial information: “We all know what educational records are: a student’s grades, attendance report, test scores, evaluations, etc.,” Hudson said. “Surveillance videos have an entirely different purpose and should not be withheld based on a claim that these videos are covered by FERPA.”

Since the incident and the subsequent medical complications, rumors and arguments about what actually happened in that classroom have swirled around the community.

The Thomas lawsuit alleges that Mosley repeatedly “body-slammed” Montravious before the teen complained of a hurt leg, at which time Mosley carried him to a bus and sent him home. He was taken by his mother to Midtown Medical Center, and later airlifted to Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children in Atlanta.

Staffers at the Edgewood Road center for students with disciplinary issues say the teen was moving classroom items around and walking on furniture, and that when Mosley tried to calm him down, the boy became “physically aggressive” and was restrained three times with “horizontal holds” — twice for six minutes and the last time for only a few seconds before he said his leg was hurt.

In the classroom with Mosley and Thomas at various points during the series of events were teacher’s aide Phyllis Fox, lesson planner Zehra Malone, assistant principal Eddie Powell and police Lt. Consuelo Askew. Fox reported that she “attempted to get someone to the classroom multiple times.” A Child Protective Services report filed the next day with the Georgia Department of Human Resources said that the last time the boy was restrained, after “aggressively” swinging a dustpan handle, Mosley released him after about 10 seconds when he said his leg was hurt.

This is where it gets curious. Two days after the confrontation, assistant principal Powell, who said he left the classroom before the last restraint because he thought the incident was over, issued a reprimand to Malone for failing to inform him of the student’s condition, and five days later filed a state ethics complaint against her. On Sept. 8, 2017, almost a year later, Powell sued the MCSD alleging retaliation for those actions.

The now-former assistant principal said it was only after watching the 25-minute video that he learned about the third restraint and the boy’s injury.

A lot can happen in 25 minutes, and apparently a lot did. But as of now, more than a year after the fact, the citizens and taxpayers of Muscogee County still don’t really know what.

Any privacy issues invoked here are debatable at best. The public interest is not.

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 6:20 PM with the headline "MCSD video of disputed 2016 student-staffer confrontation should be public record."