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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 19 June 2019

Watchdog: Schools Hiker rescued from Mt. Washington

underreporting use of may have to foot the bill

restraint, seclusion By MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — An
By CAROLYN THOMPSON to schools, districts, and 80-year-old hiker who was
Associated Press state education agen- rescued trying to reach the
A federal watchdog cies, and strengthen en- summit of Mount Washing-
agency said Tuesday forcement activities.” ton could end up footing
that public schools The GAO said collect- the bill for the emergency
have significantly un- ing accurate civil rights services, New Hampshire
derreported their use of data is key to enforcing officials said Tuesday, amid
restraint and seclusion laws that protect stu- efforts to raise awareness
to control students’ be- dents from discrimina- about the dangers of the
havior. The Government tion on the basis of race, popular tourist destination.
Accountability Office sex or disability. Authorities may even file
detailed reporting errors “Absent reliable and criminal charges in the
in which New York City, accurate data, nei- case, after two relatives left In this July 27, 2016 file photo, a pair of hikers traverse a trail on
Philadelphia and other ther Education nor the James Clark behind, Maj. Mount Washington, N.H.
districts entered zeros in public can know the David Walsh of the state’s Associated Press
the Education Depart- prevalence of restraint Fish and Game Depart- Two people who were hik- that it could be 70 degrees
ment’s Civil Rights Data and seclusion in public ment said. ing in the area have died in (21 degrees Celsius) at the
Collection for 2015-16 schools,” it said. Walsh said he wasn’t recent days. base and it will be 12 de-
when they should have Among school systems aware of anyone ever be- Clark didn’t have the right grees (minus 11 degrees
indicated the data was reporting zero incidents ing charged criminally in a clothing or gear to make Celsius) with blowing wind
unavailable. in 2015-16 were 10 of the case like this, but he could the ascent in freezing rain, and snow potentially at the
The GAO said seven nation’s largest, each not say what the charg- Ober said. As a result, the summit.” he continued.
out of 10 of more than with 100,000 or more es might be or even who agency will likely recom- Clark, of Dublin, Ohio, told
17,000 U.S. districts re- students. Fairfax County might be charged, noting mend to the attorney gen- the New Hampshire Union
ported zero incidents of Public Schools in Virginia that officials were in the eral’s office that Clark pay Leader that he blamed
students being physical- has since said it did have early stages of their consid- for the cost of his rescue, himself for telling his two
ly restrained or isolated incidents that year, and eration. taking advantage of a law grandsons to go ahead
in a separate area. The reported more than Clark was found Friday im- that allows the state to re- without him. They ended
extreme measures are 1,600 in the 2017-18 mobile in the fetal position coup rescue costs when it up reaching the summit
supposed to be used school year. Only the with signs of hypothermia determines that a person and then returning a dif-
only when students are Hawaii Department of hours after telling his two acted negligently. ferent way. With no sign of
likely to hurt themselves Education said the ze- grandsons to go on without Fish and Game has recom- Clark by evening, the pair
or others but have been ros actually represented him. Clark was treated at a mended that nine people called search and rescue
found to be dispropor- zero incidents. hospital for non-life-threat- be billed this year and 25 officers.
tionately used on stu- “While it is difficult to ening injuries and released in 2018. Bills can range from When rescuers found Clark
dents with disabilities know the full extent of Saturday. hundreds to thousands on Lion Head Trail, they
and on boys. underreporting of re- “This probably wouldn’t of dollars, depending on gave him dry clothes and
Education Secretary straint and seclusion in have happened,” if the the number of people in- warmed him up in a sleep-
Betsy DeVos in January the CRDC, the fact that group had stayed togeth- volved and the length of ing bag before carrying
announced an initiative only one of the 10 larg- er, Lt. Mark Ober of Fish and the search. Ober could not him about 2 miles (3 kilome-
to address the inappro- est districts that reported Game said. say how much Clark might ters) to the nearest road.
priate use of the mea- zeros actually affirmed Mount Washington is noto- be charged. From there, an ambulance
sures. She said the Of- that it had no incidents rious for its erratic weather, “People think it’s a walk took him to the hospital.
fice for Civil Rights would calls into question the particularly its high winds. A in the park,” said Ober, Kevin McNerney, 19, told
work with the Office of data showing zero in- 231-mph (371-kph) gust on noting there have been the newspaper he would
Special Education and cidents for 70 percent the 6,288-foot (1,916-meter) 150 deaths around Mount understand if his family is
Rehabilitative Services of the nation’s public mountain in 1934 remains Washington since the billed, saying “there is no
to provide “technical school districts,” the the highest wind speed 1800s. price you can put on a hu-
assistance and support GAO report said.q ever observed by man. “They don’t understand man life.”q