From federal documents, the Washington Post, WJLA TV, Washington:

Federal authorities have identified Dawn Marie Hamilton, a special education teacher at Loudoun County’s Park View High School, as the teacher who was implicated in the 2002 death of 14-year-old Cedric Napoleon in Texas.

Legislators at a congressional hearing on the use of restraints in schools were told yesterday that Cedric died after a teacher put him in a face-down restraint hold and sat on him for more than 15 minutes.

Hamilton, who has been teaching in Park View since 2007, was placed on paid leave this week pending an investigation after federal authorities notified the Virginia Department of Education of her involvement in the case. Hamilton was not arrested or indicted in Cedric’s death, which was ruled a homicide, but an administrative judge found the teacher used “excessive and unnecessary force,” according to Texas records. She holds a Virginia teaching license.

Loudoun school district officials said Hamilton passed a background check before being hired, and was considered a “teacher in good standing.”

From the text of the letter from the Government Accountability Office:

One of our cases involves a teacher, Dawn Marie Hamilton, who had a Texas administrative law judge sustain a finding that there was reason to believe she physically abused her student, Cedrick [sic] Napoleon, by restraining him until he died. This teacher was placed in the Texas Central Registry — a listing of individuals found to have abused and neglected children. Before the administrative law judge issued her final decision and order, Dawn Marie Hamilton’s Texas teaching certificate expired. We found no indication that the Texas State Board for Educator Certification took punitive action or implemented further measures that would link this finding to her expired teaching certificate.

Legislators were told there is no federal registry that would allow school districts to share information about people suspected or convicted of abusing children.

Here is the letter from the GAO to the Virginia Department of Education, which names Dawn Marie Hamilton as the teacher who was implicated in the death of Cedric Napoleon.

And here is the letter from the American Association of School Administrators saying that Hamilton has been placed on administrative leave from her job.

See also report from WJLA TV, Washington.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under abuse, criminal justice, intellectual/developmental disabilities, NOT2BEMISSED, personal stories, restraints and seclusion, special education, teachers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.